Three men of Indian origin, two of them from Queens, N.Y. and the third from  Ghaziabad, India have been charged with allegedly accessing the computers of elderly individuals without authorisation, caused the machines to malfunction and lured the victims' into purchasing phony computer repair services.

Malhotra, 30, of Ghaziabad, Singh, 22 of Queens, New York, and Pal, 54, of Queens, New York, have each been charged with one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, and one count of conspiracy to access a protected computer in furtherance of fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.  Singh was also charged with aggravated identity theft, which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of two years in prison, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York Geoffrey Berman said.

Berman said that for several years the three exploited elderly victims by remotely accessing their computers and convincing them to pay for computer support services they did not need, and which were never actually provided. The conspiracy netted at least USD 1.3 million for the three men, who were arrested and presented before magistrate judge here last week.

Malhotra and Pal were arrested May 23, and were presented before Magistrate Judge Debra Freeman, and Singh was arrested the same day in St. Louis, Missouri, and was scheduled to be presented before a magistrate judge May 24, the press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

As part of their scheme, the three men and their co-conspirators accessed their victims' computers and caused them to freeze or, in other instances, installed software on their victims' computers and caused their victims' email accounts to send emails that thanked the perpetrators for providing computer services.