Online and phone scammers are one of the scourges of the modern age, and many of the people responsible are Indian. Why do so many people who perform scams come from India?
Below you’ll find a list of nine reasons why you’re more likely to be scammed by a person from India than any other country. Keep reading to learn more about why so many scammers are Indian.
Why Are Scammers Indian?
1. India’s Large Population
The number one reason why so many Indians are scammers is that India has one of the largest populations of people in the world, containing more than 1.4 billion people.
Statistically, you’re more likely to be scammed by an Indian for this reason. Even if scammers are only a small part of the Indian population, there are still tons of them.
2. Lack Of Jobs
Another reason why scamming is so popular in India is that despite its large population, India doesn’t have enough jobs to go around.
Coupled with a relative lack of education, this leaves many people who aren’t educated with no better way to make a living.
One of the biggest industries in India is Information Technology (IT) call centers.
The skills learned at these call centers can easily translate into online scamming, which can often make workers more money than their call center jobs could.
3. Frustrated Youth
Compared to other countries, India has a large percentage of frustrated and restless youth. Because there are not enough jobs to go around, morale among India’s young people is low.
Desperation for jobs leads cunning youth to seek illegal means to earn since there aren’t enough legal jobs to go around. Those who are smart may scam since it is seen as easy money.
The youth of India are also under an extreme amount of pressure to marry well, and to do that they must secure a job with good pay.
Some young Indian men and women may supplement their regular jobs with scamming work to meet expectations of the money they’re supposed to be making.
4. Knowledge Of English Language
About thirty percent of India’s population is able to speak some English, which makes it easier to scam people over the phone or Internet.
English is the language of business in many large countries that Indian scammers seek to target and exploit.
Since many IT call centers already use English-speaking Indian workers, this makes scammers less conspicuous when they cold call potential victims, too.
5. Lack Of Fraud Regulations And Law
While India technically has laws against online and phone scams, in practice the country does very little to curb fraud operations that are launched against people outside of the country.
Very little effort is put forth in Indian law enforcement in stopping scammers from plying their trade. Since the victims are foreigners, it isn’t considered a big deal.
Another reason that online and phone fraud is not persecuted in India is the fact that it is difficult to monitor and prosecute.
There are so many scammers in India, the police don’t have the time to chase them all down and keep up with India’s more serious forms of crime.
6. It’s Lucrative
In contrast to the low-paying jobs that young Indians could get working in a factory or call center, online and phone scams can earn a lot of money.
For scammers who don’t have much in the way of morals or a conscience, the lure of easy cash can be too tempting to resist.
Compared to the two dollars an hour that Indian youths can expect to earn in a call center, scammers can earn thousands of dollars a month.
7. Poverty
The large number of Indian scammers might lead people to think that Indians lack morals as a society, but this isn’t true. The real culprit is widespread poverty in the region.
Lack of funds for food and shelter can drive people to desperate acts, even exploiting people on the Internet or over the phone.
More than 800 million people in India are considered poor. The deprivation that comes with chronic poverty is enough to make people do anything to improve their station in life.
8. Drive For Wealth
Even though a large percentage of Indians are poor, there is still an intense drive for acquiring wealth in the country.
This materialism in Indian culture is rooted in many other aspects of Indian life, from the caste system to arranged marriages and Bollywood luxury.
The societal pressure to gather wealth leads many Indians to chase it no matter the cost. This can inevitably lead some Indians into becoming scammers to try and get rich quick.
9. Lots Of IT Knowledge
Compared to other third world countries that are also notorious for hosting scammers, India has led the IT and call center industries for several decades.
This has led to a large number of young people in the country who may not be able to get a good job, but have enough IT experience to use it against those who don’t understand it.
Most people Indian scammers encounter are too smart to be fooled by the scam. This is especially true as general IT knowledge increases across populations.
However, the small percentage of victims who are naive enough to fall into a scammer’s trap pay well enough to make it worth the trouble for scammers to give it a try.
To learn more, you can also read our posts on why Indian people are so smart, why Germans are so smart, and why the British monarchy still exists.
Indian Scammers Are Victims Too
It’s easy to get angry at Indian scammers for trying to trick their victims out of money, especially since many of their victims are elderly or gullible people.
Many of these people are raised that stealing and scamming is wrong, but desperation makes people do things they wouldn’t otherwise do.
There are many deep underlying causes in Indian society that lead people to become scammers. While these reasons don’t excuse Indian scammers, they do help explain them.
Yeah people probably think I’m a scammer, I’m not from India or middle east, I been Accused for scamming even my gaming Gmail stolen last year, and there is nothing that evidence that I been scamming, I never steal, Scam, Phishing.
I Born in Greenland and raised small town Qasigiannguit.
probably I haven’t work since 2013, probably some people fighting for scammer’s think I’m a scammer, it’s been over a year.
I’m 31 year’s old, I been working since I was 16 to 22 year’s old, If I don’t work snowboarding or gaming free time.
Now I’m just a gamer full time no payment.
Awwwwww. Poor little Indians, right? Way to be a scammer apologist, loser. What a crap article.
I don’t understand why they scam our most vulnerable. The ‘gullible & elderly’ in our country often live on a fixed income that is also way below the poverty line (as in $800 a month) and they are making THOUSANDS? I thought they were living in slums or something. This is sad.
This article has not raised a single point that could excuse the manipulation and theft practiced by this population. NOT ONE. Indians should be aware that their entire population is being judged as amoral blights on the face of the earth. Either grow some ethics, or just die already. You’re less than useless. You’re a detriment to humanity. If I shot an Indian in the face, I would not have the first stain on my conscience. I’d be doing a favor for all the normal people in the world who do not resort to cheating and abuse. I hope a giant earthquake wipes out the whole nasty, smelly, unclean, immoral race. You can’t even toilet yourselves properly. You’re filthy vermin.
Mate this is a bit too far. Lol holy smokes…
I’ve worked with many great people of Indian background, even if the country itself has more trash people there’s still those with morals
None of the above reasons are any justification for scamming, these people cause great distress and it’s mostly the elderly that they target, which is despicable!
“They’re victims” what a joke. They know what they’re doing and they have 0 remorse. The fact that they won’t do something to make their lives better (there’s many solutions), they go out of their way to screw the vulnerable out of their cash they’ve actually worked for and achieved.
Also the extensive technical knowledge made me laugh given every scammer I’ve spoken with, or saw online has 0 knowledge of how anything works lol.
But yeah they’re not victims, they can make choices and work to get where they wanna be. They decide to commit crimes. That’s on them. They ain’t poor victims. They’re scum 🙂
Alot of India’s scammers have GOT to be of “untouchable” caste or something. Casteism exists in India despite its traditional caste system having been formally abolished. That said, the cultural impact doesn’t just go away. The prejudice remains because their religion still keeps the core idea behind the caste tradition alive. So, if you are of the higher castes, you have a better shot at having a real job and decent life. if you are of low caste or “untouchable”, you are treated like shit and will be given shit jobs, if any job at all. Untouchables are usually stereotyped as being only suited for jobs which are considered dirty, such as sewer maintenance, toilet cleaning, street sweeping, such things. So, when that’s the only life you know, in the 21st century, scamming is the most straightforward way to make the kind of money your society won’t let you have otherwise.
Addendum: One’s caste in Indian tradition also most often determined what your profession could be. Modern casteism I’ve seen talked about is something along the lines of, “You don’t hire a street sweeper to be a doctor.” To Indian people, your caste determines what you are. If you are of a low or untouchable caste, you won’t get into any professional education or training institution let alone a job you trained for after graduation without affirmative action. In India, affirmative action is caste-based rather than racial, which contrasts the US.