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‘Scamming became the new farming’: inside India’s cybercrime villages
Guardian UK ^ | 10/30/2025 | Snigdha Poonam

Posted on 10/30/2025 2:38:40 AM PDT by marcusmaximus

On the surface, the town of Jamtara appeared no different from neighbouring districts. But, if you knew where to look, there were startling differences. In the middle of spartan villages were houses of imposing size and unusual opulence. Millions of Indians knew why this was. They knew, to their cost, where Jamtara was. To them, it was no longer a place; it was a verb. You lived in fear of being “Jamtara-ed”.

Over the past 15 years, parts of this sleepy district in the eastern state of Jharkhand had grown fabulously wealthy. This extraordinary feat of rural development was powered by young men who, armed with little more than mobile phones, had mastered the art of siphoning money from strangers’ bank accounts. The sums they pilfered were so staggering that, at times, their schemes resembled bank heists more than mere acts of financial fraud.

In a short period, scam calls became an almost universal experience in India. With every innovation in India’s digital marketplace – smartphones, digital wallets, e-commerce, crypto – Jamtara’s scams expanded their target area. In New Delhi, India’s policymakers boasted about “Digital India” and the spread of modern telecom infrastructure. But, for the majority of Indian citizens, the digital revolution became synonymous with Jamtara scams.

(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...


TOPICS: Chit/Chat
KEYWORDS: crime; cybercrime; fraud; gayforindia; h1b; india; indians; modi; ripoff; scammers; scams; snigdhapoonam

1 posted on 10/30/2025 2:38:40 AM PDT by marcusmaximus
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To: marcusmaximus
pandora-s-box-02
2 posted on 10/30/2025 3:08:39 AM PDT by Right_Wing_Madman
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To: gump

3 posted on 10/30/2025 3:15:22 AM PDT by kiryandil (No one in AZ that voted for Trump voted for Gallego )
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To: Loser

4 posted on 10/30/2025 3:16:48 AM PDT by kiryandil (No one in AZ that voted for Trump voted for Gallego )
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To: Right_Wing_Madman
LOL!

"Pandoori's Box"


5 posted on 10/30/2025 3:20:35 AM PDT by kiryandil (No one in AZ that voted for Trump voted for Gallego )
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To: marcusmaximus

It’s OK, we’ll hire them as H1b’s!

What could go wrong?


6 posted on 10/30/2025 3:56:17 AM PDT by FreedomPoster (Islam delenda est)
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To: marcusmaximus

DO NOT REDEEM


7 posted on 10/30/2025 4:05:14 AM PDT by struggle
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To: marcusmaximus

When someone in India calls customer service, do they get an American on the line?


8 posted on 10/30/2025 4:20:18 AM PDT by GreenHornet
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To: marcusmaximus

What is really interesting is what happens when many of the voters are profession crooks:

“When all other avenues failed, political representatives came to the rescue of cyberthieves. From council officials to members of parliament, local politics was increasingly tied to digital scams. The relationship was mutually beneficial: money earned from the scams funded electoral campaigns and power linked to political office shielded the perpetrators from arrest.”


9 posted on 10/30/2025 4:31:06 AM PDT by proxy_user
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To: proxy_user

Not the voters. The campaign contributers and bribers.


10 posted on 10/30/2025 5:23:01 AM PDT by xxqqzz
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To: marcusmaximus

this makes those good ol’ Nigerian Prince scams look like Sunday school picnics!


11 posted on 10/30/2025 5:23:58 AM PDT by catnipman ((A Vote For The Lesser Of Two Evils Still Counts As A Vote For Evil))
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To: GreenHornet

“When someone in India calls customer service, do they get an American on the line?”

Someone with an accent no one can understand, like maybe a Cajun! lol.


12 posted on 10/30/2025 5:32:58 AM PDT by CodeToad
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To: CodeToad
“When someone in India calls customer service, do they get an American on the line?”

Someone with an accent no one can understand, like maybe a Cajun! lol.

Hadji: "I called customer service and got some guy named Bubba. I couldn't understand a word he said!"

13 posted on 10/30/2025 6:24:40 AM PDT by GreenHornet
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To: marcusmaximus
Keep it there! Do not bring it here:

Great ‘Overnight’ Replacement: The (Federal) Express Decline and Fall of Collierville, TN

"The forests and fields are being clear-cut to make way for massive, multi-family apartment complexes... A teacher at a local elementary school mentioned a startling statistic: nearly 80% of her students were now minorities, with half of the student body being of Indian descent and requiring ESL services. The town he planned to raise his own children in is rapidly becoming unrecognizable."

https://revolver.news/2025/10/federal-express-collierville-tn-great-overnight-replacement/

14 posted on 10/30/2025 7:51:23 AM PDT by Bon of Babble (You Say You Want a Revolution?)
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To: Bon of Babble

Sometimes I get calls that must come frome from an area that is ETL....English as a Third Language.


15 posted on 10/30/2025 7:44:58 PM PDT by oldtech
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To: kiryandil

Gump supports scamming? Or Gump dogmatically appears in any Marcus thread?


16 posted on 10/31/2025 10:16:18 AM PDT by vmpolesov
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To: marcusmaximus

I love watching the videos on YouTube when they get revenge on the scammers.


17 posted on 10/31/2025 10:17:43 AM PDT by dfwgator ("I am Charlie Kirk!")
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To: dfwgator

They think they’re so clever but they’re not.


18 posted on 10/31/2025 10:36:39 AM PDT by marcusmaximus
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To: vmpolesov

gump dislikes AI bots.


19 posted on 10/31/2025 3:14:39 PM PDT by kiryandil (No one in AZ that voted for Trump voted for Gallego )
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