Indian diplomats in US face rise in impersonation scams targeting diaspora
Indian diplomats in the United States are reporting a surge in scammers impersonating officials to target the Indian diaspora. These fraudsters use spoofed phone numbers and personal information to intimidate victims into paying fees or providing sensitive data.
Why it matters
This trend highlights the growing sophistication of social engineering attacks targeting specific immigrant communities through institutional impersonation.
Indian diplomats and officials posted in the United States are grappling with a fresh challenge: an uptick in scammers impersonating officials from Indian diplomatic missions to target members of the Indian diaspora in America.Officials speaking to HT said that Indian missions receive several complaints every week from the Indian diaspora about such scams. Using digital technologies to spoof phone numbers with US area codes, these scammers impersonate Indian diplomats for a range of scams that run the gamut from requesting fees from victims to expedite travel documentation to telling victims that their India-based cellphone numbers have been used in terrorist activities.Indian diplomatic missions - recognising the problem - have issued advisories and reached out to community members urging greater caution when fielding calls purporting to be from Indian missions.Also Read: 15 arrested in Operation Hard Ball were living illegally in US; gang recruiters targeted visa applicants“This has been an issue…
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