U.S. officials on Thursday accused more than 60 individuals and companies in the United States and India with bilking as much as $250 million from thousands of Americans and using banks, remittances, prepaid cards and hawala transfers to launder the profits. From 2012 to 2016, at least 20 of the defendants, working from five call-centers in and around Ahmedabad, India, impersonated U.S. officials while calling and threatening more than 15,000 U.S.-based immigrants and elderly people with imprisonment, deportation or fines unless they quickly paid tens of thousands of dollars, according to an 81-page indictment. Some of the victims were instructed...
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