Builder.AI: Yet Another Global Indian Scam?

[Riaz Haq]

A London-based startup builder.ai, founded by an Indian named Sachin Dev Duggal,  recently filed for bankruptcy after its ‘neural network’ was discovered to be 700 Indians coding in India. The company promoted its "code-building AI" to be as easy as "ordering pizza".  It was backed by nearly half a billion dollar investment by top tech investors including Microsoft. The company was valued at $1.5 billion. This is the latest among a series of global scams originating in India. 

In recent years, India has emerged as a major hub for global scams. The US government has alleged in court documents that a large enterprise originating from India was involved in stealing nearly $1.5 billion from elderly Americans. Recently, two Indian nationals, Pranay Mamindi and Kishan Patel, were found guilty of participating in a money laundering conspiracy, concealing the source of the money, and using the illegally gained money to further promote a criminal enterprise.  Six other defendants from India also pleaded guilty and are awaiting sentencing. 

These global scams appear to have started amid widespread unemployment in India. Many of the scammers previously worked in call centers where they learned to use computers and telecommunications networks to reach out and talk to Americans. In 2022, U.S. citizens fell victim to a massive loss of over $10 billion from phishing calls orchestrated by illegal Indian call centers, according to data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). 

Indian-Americans, too, have been found guilty in a number of high-profile scams. A federal jury convicted former Theranos executive Ramesh "Sunny" Balwani, an Indian-American entrepreneur, on all 12 counts of fraud in 2022. Balwani was born in 1965 in Pakistan to a Sindhi Hindu family. His one-time girlfriend and partner Elizabeth Holmes, the founder of Theranos, was convicted on similar charges earlier that year. Both face up to 20 years in prison. 

Last year, a federal judge sentenced former Outcome Health CEO Rishi Shah, an Indian-American, to 7½ years in prison for a massive fraud scheme that prosecutors say enabled a “jet-set lifestyle” featuring private aircraft, yachts and a tony Chicago home.

In 2020, Dr. John Nath Kapoor, Indian-American CEO of Insys Therapeutics, was found guilty of conspiring to recklessly and illegally boost profits from the opioid painkiller Subsys, a fentanyl spray designed to be absorbed under the tongue, according to multiple media reports.

Rajat Gupta, an Indian-American former global head of McKinsey & Company, was convicted of insider trading in 2012. He was charged with passing on confidential business information about Goldman Sachs to hedge fund manager Raj Rajaratnam. Gupta was found guilty on multiple counts of conspiracy and securities fraud and served a two-year prison sentence. 

India Ranks Number One For Misinformation and Disinformation

Beyond the hub of scams and frauds, it seems that India has earned a reputation as the epicenter of misinformation and disinformation. According to experts surveyed for the World Economic Forum’s 2024 Global Risk Report, India was ranked highest for the risk of misinformation and disinformation.  This was on full display during the recent conflict with Pakistan. 

After the recent Pahalgam militant attack in Kashmir, the Indian government immediately blamed it on Pakistan without any investigation or evidence. More than a month later, the perpetrators have neither been clearly identified nor apprehended. And yet, the government of Prime Minister Modi proceeded with air strikes inside Pakistan. Pakistan retaliated and shot down several Indian fighter jets, including its most advanced French Rafales. The conflict began to quickly escalate with strikes and counter-strikes, with the world fearing a nuclear exchange. This prompted the United States and several other countries to intervene and force a ceasefire in less than 4 days of armed conflict. 

During this short 4-day period, the Indian mainstream media was filled with lies. Here's how the Washington Post reported this: "Times Now Navbharat reported that Indian forces had entered Pakistan; TV9 Bharatvarsh told viewers that Pakistan’s prime minister had surrendered; Bharat Samachar said he was hiding in a bunker. All of them, along with some of the country’s largest channels — including Zee News, ABP News and NDTV — repeatedly proclaimed that major Pakistani cities had been destroyed". 

It is unfortunate but true: Fraud and falsehood have become endemic in the Indian society.  Part of the blame falls squarely on the ruling BJP party which promotes falsehoods. In 2018, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's right-hand man and home minister Amit Shah told his party's volunteers commonly known as Modi Bhakts: "We can keep making messages go viral, whether they are real or fake, sweet or sour". "Keep making messages go viral. We have already made a WhatsApp group with 32 lakh people in Uttar Pradesh; every morning they are sent a message at 8 am", Shah added, according to a report in Dainik Bhaskar, an Indian Hindi-language daily newspaper.

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[Riaz Haq]

Time to reassess, size up Pakistan
There is a need to pay greater attention to how the world views India’s neighbor

By Sanjaya Baru

https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/comment/time-to-reassess-size-up-...


PAKISTAN is a failed State. Pakistan should be declared a terrorist state. Pakistan’s economy is sinking. Pakistan has been internationally isolated. We have dehyphenated ourselves from Pakistan. Even Prabowo Subianto, President of Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim-majority nation, delinked his visit to India from a trip to Pakistan. For a decade now, the Indian public has been fed this narrative. A leading New Delhi think tank even published a paper by one of its senior scholars, titled, ‘Jaishankar Makes it Clear: Pakistan is Now Just a Sideshow for India.’

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The first task of national security and foreign policy management has to be the correct sizing up of one’s enemy. Second, to ensure adequate contact at different levels that facilitates an exchange of credible information. By shutting down all diplomatic, business and civil society engagement with Pakistan, India has deprived itself of the means to acquire a balanced assessment of its neighbour and the ability to influence opinion across the border.

While the economic gap between the two countries has certainly grown, Pakistan is not a basket case. It has a sizeable economy, a sizeable industrial and agricultural base, links with major economies and a competent military.

In a recent interview with The Print’s Swasti Rao, a European diplomat reminded Indians of the many strengths and capabilities of Pakistan’s air force. Apart from its hard power, Pakistan has always enjoyed the soft power of its elite

[Riaz Haq]

Fatima Khan
@Fatima_Khatun01
Economic Illusion or Reality? Professor Arun Kumar Raises Serious Questions About India’s $4 Trillion Economy Claim

A recent statement by renowned economist Professor Arun Kumar has sparked a fresh wave of debate on the actual size and health of India’s economy. In a country where high-profile economic announcements are often hailed as historic achievements, Professor Kumar’s data-backed skepticism challenges the official narrative.

Who is Professor Arun Kumar?

Professor Arun Kumar is a senior economist and author, known for his critical and data-oriented approach to analyzing India’s economy. With years of academic and policy experience, his insights often serve as a counterweight to government-released statistics.

His Argument: Economic Shocks Under PM Modi’s Leadership

1.2016 – Demonetization:
The sudden withdrawal of ₹500 and ₹1,000 currency notes was pitched as a move to fight black money and corruption. Kumar argues that this move severely disrupted the informal sector, which constitutes a large portion of India’s employment and GDP.

2.2017 – GST Implementation:
While the Goods and Services Tax was intended to simplify India’s tax structure, Kumar believes its hurried and complex rollout hurt small businesses, creating confusion and compliance challenges across the country.

3.2018 – NBFC Crisis:
The collapse of IL&FS triggered a liquidity crunch among non-banking financial companies (NBFCs), leading to tighter credit conditions that affected sectors like real estate and small-scale industries.

4.2020 – COVID-19 Lockdown:
The national lockdown imposed in March 2020 was one of the most stringent in the world. While necessary for public health, Kumar argues that its economic impact was devastating, especially for migrant workers and daily-wage earners.

The $4 Trillion Economy Debate: Fact or Fiction?

The government and several mainstream outlets have recently celebrated India’s economy crossing the $4 trillion mark, projecting it as a milestone that puts India among the top global economic powers.

However, Professor Kumar disputes this claim. According to him:

•The real economic value may be overstated by as much as 42%, mainly due to how the informal sector and inflation are calculated in the GDP data.

•He suggests that India’s actual GDP is closer to $2.7 to $2.9 trillion, putting it above Italy ($2.5 trillion) but not yet comparable to Japan ($4.4 trillion) as claimed by some narratives.

Should His Concerns Be Taken Seriously?

Professor Arun Kumar’s critique is based on long-term economic indicators and his deep analysis of data inconsistencies. He calls for greater transparency and a more accurate methodology in calculating GDP, especially with regard to the informal sector, which is often poorly captured in official statistics.

His arguments highlight the gap between headline figures and on-ground economic realities, particularly for sectors that are not part of the formal, digital economy.

https://x.com/Fatima_Khatun01/status/1929581130258251828

[Riaz Haq]

FJ
@Natsecjeff
Indian-origin pharma tycoon Tonmoy Sharma arrested in Los Angeles over $149 million healthcare fraud

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/indian-origin-pharma-t...

https://x.com/Natsecjeff/status/1932399825351565819

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Ex-CEO of mental health provider arrested for insurance fraud
Tonmoy Sharma ran the now-defunct Sovereign Health Group addiction treatment provider, which had multiple facilities in Southern California.

https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/sovereign-health-tonmoy-sh...

The founder and former CEO of an addiction treatment provider made an initial court appearance Friday after being arrested on several federal charges, including insurance fraud.

The federal investigation into Sovereign Health Group, which ran multiple addiction treatment centers in Southern California has been underway since June 2017 when the FBI raided Sovereign’s treatment facilities, its San Clemente headquarters and Tonmoy Sharma’s home in San Juan Capistrano. The business eventually shut down in 2018.

But even after the closure, NBCLA investigations found that Tonmoy Sharma, the former CEO, operated a licensed residential treatment facility in San Juan Capistrano under the name Dana Shores Recovery.

Sharma, who was arrested at LAX Thursday afternoon, is accused of submitting more than $149 million in fraudulent claims to private insurance companies as well as accepting $21 million in illegal kickbacks for patient referrals.

Sharma was charged with four counts of wire fraud, one count of conspiracy, and three counts of illegal remunerations for referrals to clinical treatment facilities.

“From 2014 to 2020, Sovereign billed private insurance companies for drug addicted and mentally ill patients often at high, out-of-network rates,” the Department of Justicesaid in a statement. “At Sharma’s direction, Sovereign employees aggressively pursued patients through various forms of marketing, directing the patients to contact the company at its toll-free phone number.”

[Riaz Haq]

Search Labs | AI Overview

Indian scams

 refer to various fraudulent activities that target individuals and businesses, often with origins or operations within India. They can range from elaborate international cybercrime networks to simpler, localized schemes. 

Common types of scams include:

• Tech support scams: Impersonating legitimate tech companies (like Microsoft) to trick victims into paying for fake computer fixes or granting remote access to their devices.
• Impersonation scams: Fraudsters pose as government officials, bank representatives, or family members to manipulate victims into revealing sensitive information or transferring money.
• Online shopping scams: Creating fake e-commerce websites with unreal discounts to deceive buyers.
• Financial scams: Including fraudulent investment schemes, loan scams, and other methods to defraud individuals or financial institutions.
• Tourist scams: Misleading or overcharging tourists for services like accommodation, taxis, or souvenirs.
• Job scams: Offering fake job opportunities to steal personal information or demand upfront payments.
• Romance scams: Building emotional connections to trick victims into sending money. 

Reasons for the prevalence of scams in India:

• Growing internet penetration: Affordable internet access has exposed a large number of people to online security risks.
• Exploitation of vulnerabilities: Scammers exploit the lack of digital literacy and online experience in some segments of the population.
• Weak laws and enforcement: A perceived lack of effective cybercrime laws and prosecution can embolden scammers.
• High unemployment rates: Some individuals may turn to scams due to limited employment opportunities. 

How to protect yourself:

• Be cautious of unsolicited contact: Be wary of unexpected emails, calls, or messages, especially those requesting personal information or payment.
• Verify identities: If unsure, contact the company or individual directly through official channels to verify the legitimacy of the request.
• Do not share sensitive information: Never disclose your bank details, OTPs, or other sensitive information unless you are certain of the request's authenticity.
• Be skeptical of urgent requests: Scammers often create a sense of urgency to pressure victims into making quick decisions.
• Check for red flags: Look for grammatical errors, suspicious links, and unprofessional communication in messages or websites.
• Use secure payment methods: Be cautious of requests for payment through unsecured channels like wire transfers or gift cards.
• Report suspicious activity: If you suspect a scam, report it to the relevant authorities, such as the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal in India. 

If you have been scammed:

• Report the scam immediately: Contact your bank or financial institution to block any fraudulent transactions and report the incident to the police or cybercrime authorities.
• Gather evidence: Collect any relevant information, such as screenshots of messages, transaction details, and contact information of the scammers. 

Government initiatives:

• National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal: The Indian government has established this online platform to facilitate reporting of cybercrime and fraud.
• Citizen Financial Cyber Fraud Reporting and Management System (CFCFRMS): This system enables quick reporting of financial cyber frauds and aims to coordinate action between law enforcement agencies and financial institutions. 

By staying informed and vigilant, you can significantly reduce your risk of becoming a victim of Indian scams. 

[Riaz Haq]

Sushant Singh
@SushantSin
Narrative is a function of reality. India suffered significant combat losses on the first night which it wants to paper over. It is by hiding the reality that you lose the narrative war globally. Domestically you can make the people believe that Karachi was about to be captured.


https://x.com/SushantSin/status/1932291800171168138

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Pakistan used Chinese weapons in its fight with India. The impact may be far-reaching : NPR

https://www.npr.org/2025/06/10/nx-s1-5421262/pakistan-used-chinese-...

[Riaz Haq]

FJ
@Natsecjeff
Top CENTCOM commander declares Pakistan a "phenomenal partner" in counterterrorism for America.

This is the opposite of what India was expecting to hear.

https://x.com/Natsecjeff/status/1932739907262279823

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US Centcom chief lauds ‘phenomenal partner’ Pakistan in counter-terrorism efforts - Pakistan - DAWN.COM

https://www.dawn.com/news/1916524


United States Central Command (Centcom) commander Army General Michael Kurilla on Wednesday praised Pakistan as a “phenomenal partner in the world of counter-terrorism”, citing the nation’s struggle against terrorism in Balochistan and against terrorist groups like the Islamic State-Khorasan (IS-K).

Pakistan and the US reaffirmed the continuation of counter-terrorism cooperation during a dialogue in Washington on May 10. The dialogue underscored the cooperation between the two countries in addressing the most pressing challenges to regional and global security, including the threats posed by terrorist outfits such as the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and IS-K.

The two nations are slated to have another counter-terrorism dialogue this month.

[Riaz Haq]

Sushant Singh
@SushantSin
The question is not what value Pakistan holds for the US. The question is the lies we were told that after Modi and Jaishankar, the US is now completely beholden to India and doesn't care for Pakistan at all. The lies were told by editors, columnists, diplomats and think-tankers.

https://x.com/SushantSin/status/1932816283659350524

[Riaz Haq]

Sushant Singh
@SushantSin
"A strange mix of insularity and delusion, propped up by a media at once sycophantic and hallucinatory, has kept us in denial about the steep drop of the world’s perception of India."

https://x.com/SushantSin/status/1933016375997403478

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Mind the gulf
By Saikat Majumdar

https://www.telegraphindia.com/opinion/mind-the-gulf-a-crisis-in-in...

India’s image problem has now moved into a state of crisis. The gulf between how the country is perceived from outside and the picture of India promoted by the current national government has grown to a point of tragedy or comedy, depending on your perspective. Life, Byron said once, is a tragedy for those who feel, and a comedy for those who think. Feelings might have taken the driver’s seat, particularly with the brutal tragedy of the terrorist attack at Pahalgam, but the sobriety of honest thought is essential to assess the reality of the conflict with Pakistan that followed. This is where comedy returns, not only as a mark of thinking over feeling but, sadly, also of grotesquery of a different order. It takes us back to the longstanding problem of India’s international image and its startling contrast with the dominant domestic editions.

The question glares on the trip trail of the international public relations team of multiparty parliamentarians to tell the Indian side of the story in the recent standoff with Pakistan. The Georgetown academic, Christine Fair, gets it exactly right in her interview with Scroll when she points out that the very need for such a delegation marks something of a serious communication failure on the international stage. Pakistan, she reminds us, has been far better at communicating with the Western media. That India has failed at this is the irony of India’s size and heft, both economic and political, and its importance as a functioning democracy, if a rapidly declining one. But if size makes us complacent and inward looking, then we have a problem. We may fume at being bracketed with Pakistan. But sadly, this also shows that we have forgotten how to speak to others, particularly to outsiders who do not buy the ideological marketing of nationalist pride that distorts home truths for our citizenry.

An indifference to the world outside and the global image of the nation is sometimes characteristic of large nations that have enough within their own borders to preoccupy them. No nation has shown this as revealingly in the modern world as the United States of America whose cultural insularity is the stuff of legend. When you’re in the heart of Middle America where nothing but America is visible for thousands of miles all around, it can get hard to see other cultures beyond your land. Arriving in one such state in the last year of the last millennium as a student, I was appalled at the local image of India as the land of poverty, Gandhi, and the Taj Mahal. But even then, the impending computer glitch of Y2K had brought droves of Indian software engineers to the US, and as I moved to the east coast for doctoral study shortly after the turn of the millennium, I encountered a distinct change in the American image of India. Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and other hubs of information technology as well as students and professionals from these domains increasingly defined the country; the ‘third world’ image from the Midwest in 1999 already seemed to belong to another age. When in 2007, somewhere between the arrival of Facebook and the iPhone, I took a faculty position at a university in the San Francisco Bay Area, I entered a world where being Indian was synonymous with being smart, specifically a tech-geek — possibly a start-up founder or an ambitious Google employee in Palo Alto, where I lived, occasionally spotting Mark Zuckerberg in the local farmers’ market.

[Riaz Haq]

Mind the gulf
By Saikat Majumdar

https://www.telegraphindia.com/opinion/mind-the-gulf-a-crisis-in-in...

From California, the world seemed to look further west, to Taiwan and Hong Kong rather than to western Europe that loomed over the east coast and shaped what Amit Chaudhuri has called America’s “heritage modernity”. Miraculously, India seemed to be an extended part of this Rising Asia, not only in the tech culture it imported through immigrant and outsourced labour but also in the same breath as the great Asian Tiger of China. The market crash of 2008, coupled with the inauguration of the Barack Obama presidency, generated the feeling that the centre of gravity of the world was shifting from the White West and Asia offered the richest promise.

From being bracketed with China in the first and the early second decade of the twenty-first century, India is now back in the bracket with Pakistan and Bangladesh, just the way things used to be in the 20th century. A strange mix of insularity and delusion, propped up by a media at once sycophantic and hallucinatory, has kept us in denial about the steep drop of the world’s perception of India. Living in India and following the flatulent rhetoric of the government and stakeholders beholden to this leadership, one is made to believe in India’s ‘massive’ economy and vishwaguru status and take a few shopping malls, bullet trains and flyovers, the bare-normal steps of inevitable modernisation, as giant leaps into a shiny global future. But as Pratap Bhanu Mehta pointed out in an article in The Indian Express this February, while India’s delusion of relevance continues to be relentlessly driven by our internal machineries of ideology and a pliant media, neither in global trade, soft power, or political heft does India matter a fraction of what a country of this size and population should — and certainly far less than what our leaders in power would have us believe.

As someone who now lives in Delhi’s National Capital Region but continues to spend time in different parts of the world, including Africa and Europe, I see both the internal projection and the external reality and the absurd gulf between them. In research institutes, think tanks and policy centres abroad, one hears China in almost every conversation, but India rarely comes up. As the East Asian giant wrests global academic leadership away from the US, particularly in science and tech and most sharply in Artificial Intelligence research, India’s research output remains puny in volume and significance on the global scale. Our sheer size and whatever remaining semblance of democracy we offer give us a podium on the world scale that we immediately squander by being inconsequential on all fronts. No wonder we are left to vie with Pakistan to get the world to take our version of the truth seriously.

Saikat Majumdar is currently a Senior Fellow at the Institute of Advanced Study in Budapest