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mschuster91 parent
I've said it before here, I'll say it again: it is high time that our governments follow the money and the scammers. Sanction the source countries of these scams to hell and beyond until they clean up their act and pray in front of us on their knees for forgiveness. And yes, I'd like particularly Narendra Modi to kneel - it's hard to wish anything else after watching more than two Scammer Payback videos. Obviously Indian police is aware of what's going on, he's posted more than enough proof, but mysteriously the callcenters get warned in time and vanish.

The US alone loses 158 billion $ each year [1] to scams, the global toll is allegedly around 1 trillion $ [2]. That's fucking insane, this has to stop.

[1] https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/ftc-states-scams-cost-us-cons...

[2] https://www.gasa.org/post/global-state-of-scams-report-2024-...


coredog64
Every dollar in scam damages verified by the FBI is one fewer work visa for anyone from that country. India is now in a hole of 1 billion (or 10,000 lakhs) work visas, and the latter are more valuable than scams.
throwawayoldie
> it is high time that our governments follow the money and the scammers

I suspect the reason they don't is many of them know that following the money will lead right to their own front doors.

commandlinefan
> Sanction the source countries

According to the article, this is originating in China - we're sanctioning them pretty hard as it is, and they don't seem to care that much.

throwaway48476
Usually Chinese but not located in China proper.
mschuster91 OP
There's more scammers than just Myanmar, North Korea and China, that's why I explicitly mentioned Scammer Payback - he almost exclusively targets Indian scammers and even learned Hindi to understand the background talks of scammers.
throwaway48476
Scamming is a large fraction of GDP in some countries.
anonnon
It's strange how some of these countries don't take action on their own behalf, if only to preserve their international reputation and the reputation of their citizens abroad. India is a great example. Do Indians not realize how much damage they've done to their reputation by allowing scam call centers to flourish? Are they not aware of

> DO NOT REDEEM

Imagine Americans living in small towns with few to no Indians, and their only association with Indian accents is someone trying to steal their (or their parents' or granparents') money.

EDIT: seatac76, your reply got shadowed; perhaps your entire account. Not sure why.

keutoi
_Allowing scam call centers to flourish_.

How much control does an average citizen have over these criminal enterprises? Does an average US citizen know/care/take-action when mercenaries from their country topple governments of other countries? As long as the crime is not visible, they just enjoy fruits of their crimes.

throwaway48476
India claims to be a democracy.
anonnon
> How much control does an average citizen have over these criminal enterprises?

My point was about the government. This phenomenon is large enough that I'm shocked it hasn't openly caused a diplomatic rift between the US and India, and New Delhi should have a vested interested in combating it.

> when mercenaries from their country topple governments of other countries

What "mercenaries" are you referring to?

keutoi
Why would any country be proactive in combating this? Do you think US will be fair in return? US protects it's people even from International war crimes.

Mercenaries: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_involvement_in_r...

throwaway_434
> This phenomenon is large enough that I'm shocked it hasn't openly caused a diplomatic rift between the US and India, and New Delhi should have a vested interested in combating it.

It is only large enough to you probably. India has been sanctioned by US in the 90s for doing reciprocal nuclear tests (after China detonated its bomb) and suffered billions of dollars in trade. US gained nothing from the sanctions except to push India into more poverty. It ended up being counter-productive. Even now Trump is threatening India with billions of dollars in trade sanctions that far outweighs anything caused by scams (if you take absolute numbers).

> What "mercenaries" are you referring to?

The CIA is currently fuelling and instigating Manipur riots in India by supplying arms and ammunitions to Kuki narco-terrorists. Prior to this we had USAID that was influencing electoral politics within India. Apart from that, we just witnessed regime change operations in Bangladesh where Pro-India Shiekh Hasina was toppled for a Pro-US Jihadi Muhammad Yunus. All of these run the US taxpayers in hundreds of billions of dollars. Far more than any scam conducted by Indian call centers.

For an average US citizen, sure it feels like a lot, since you guys are at the receiving end. But since you mentioned why US Government is not bringing this up, it is because it pales in comparison to what US Government has done to India over the past 7 decades. India can bring up a lot of counterpoints that will only cause US diplomats to shut up. We haven't even touched on killing of our nuclear scientists. Too many skeletons in their closet.

geodel
Do tell about those nuclear scientists. Seems you know quite a bit.
anonnon
I believe they're referring to this:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homi_J._Bhabha

> Gregory Douglas, a journalist, conspiracy theorist,[128] forger,[129] and holocaust denier[130] who claimed to have conducted telephone conversations with former CIA operative Robert Crowley in 1993, published a book titled Conversations with the Crow in 2013. According to Douglas, Crowley claimed that the CIA was responsible for assassinating Homi Bhabha and Prime Minister Shastri in 1966, thirteen days apart, to thwart India's nuclear programme.[131]

Clearly, the GP is completely rational and quite well-informed.

anonnon
> India has been sanctioned by US in the 90s for doing reciprocal nuclear tests

For one year. 14 other countries sanctioned India too.

> The CIA is currently fuelling and instigating Manipur riots

I couldn't find anything on this besides articles on Indian/Bangladeshi InfoWars-tier websites.

> to what US Government has done to India over the past 7 decades

Like what?

seatac76 (dead)
geodel
Ironically or not but I'd imagine Trump would be appropriate person to give a proper dressing down to Modi via Truth Social if not through official channels.

As in past, the future US dispensation would be far more more decent to disturb peacock like dancing Modi.

throwaway_434
> And yes, I'd like particularly Narendra Modi to kneel

Umm you are targeting the wrong person here. Majority of the scam call centers come from West Bengal, particularly Kolkata. Which is headed by Chief Minister Mamta Banerjee.

India has a federal structure, with cooperation between Center and States. Similar to USA. Modi just can't invade Kolkata using Indian Armed Forces and dismantle the operations without facing significant legal challenges in the Supreme Court of India.

West Bengal is a islamo-commie state. Nearly impossible to flip the state electorally for BJP to win (Narendra Modi heads BJP). The state is a stronghold of Mamta Banerjee who heads the TMC party. She came to power after nearly 4 decades of Communist rule.

mschuster91 OP
First of all, I didn't downvote you, and you provide valuable context, so if the downvoters would care to explain why I would be very happy.

> India has a federal structure, with cooperation between Center and States. Similar to USA. Modi just can't invade Kolkata using Indian Armed Forces and dismantle the operations without facing significant legal challenges in the Supreme Court of India.

There are ways in any federal system to force the cooperation of unwilling states. The US, infamously, threatened to withhold federal highway funding unless states raised the minimum drinking age to 21.

The federal government could also be transparent about hints of scammers they get and explain why the scammers are not being targeted. Particularly when the state in question is run by the opposition, I would expect the federal government party to use this as political ammunition.

The fact that there is zero such efforts visible leads me to the conclusion that Modi just doesn't give a fuck.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Minimum_Drinking_Age_...

SapporoChris
https://www.worldometers.info/gdp/gdp-by-country/

The US GDP is more than 27 trillion. If 158 billion is being lost. That's about .6% of the GDP. So, my question is, why does this have to stop? If it is stopped the benefits to the global population seems trivial. I'm sure at the individual level it is devastating. Good luck getting the national government to care about such a small percent.

ahmeneeroe-v2
This is not a good financial analysis. Nearly any mature company would absolutely pursue 0.6% in cost reduction. That is a huge, juicy target.
jgeada
Because scams destroy trust in institutions, and trust in US institutions is already worryingly low. Without trust in institutions the system collapses.
bikecuck2
"The total happiness in the world increased"

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