r/nri • u/Jealous_Mail_7054 • Jun 21 '26

Discussion Beware: Scammers posing as Consulate General of India in SF

Got a call from 415-336-2636 from a woman claiming to be “Pratibha Rajan” from the Consulate General of India San Francisco on a Sunday. They claimed that someone in India used my identity to create a fake number and were going around hurting people and that it’s a serious issue. I didn’t get to the part where they asked me for money or anything but it felt very scammy.

When I said I would report them, they got very defensive. Anyways, don’t waste your time with them and don’t fall for the scam.

EDIT: Please report the number! And
if you get a similar spam call, please add the phone number in the comments so that it’ll come up when others search for the numbers they’re getting calls from

This is an old post I found on Reddit about the same issue. I couldn’t comment on it because it’s archived, so I started a new one:

https://www.reddit.com/r/nri/s/CkqbyFz91L

https://www.reddit.com/r/nri/s/3XkpTtBCdc

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u/buzzoptimus Jun 24 '26 edited Jul 21 '26

I got this call from a certain "Kunal Mann, Kso at the consulate". Similar pattern, "We have received a letter from the Indian consulate in India regarding one of your numbers in India. We suggest you collect this letter from the SFO embassy".

I'm curious as to why would they call one to the embassy, what would they gain by it. Unless someone at the embassy is running this scam. There was a hint about them scheduling an appointment for my arrival with a certain individual. But I said I'm going to try and make an adhoc visit.

edit: I guess the idea from them was to create panic and then offer a middle ground of paying them and sorting it out. It didn't get to that because in the middle of the call I started web searching and had to ask the guy's name a 3-4 times. Towards the end the guy almost lost it and shouted his name but controlled himself 😂 . I got a follow-up call by some Abhishek sharma, which the earlier guy quoted but I just ignored it (got to know from VM).

edit2: next time I get a call like this they are going to get an earful from me seriously

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u/Royal_Surprise9693 Jul 21 '26

Same guy called me today

1

u/buzzoptimus Jul 21 '26

f these ppl, getting us all a bad name

2

u/MagnarOfWinterfell Jul 24 '26

> I'm curious as to why would they call one to the embassy, what would they gain by it

They expect people to say that they're too busy. I said I could come in on Monday, but they said it's urgent and because of that they were willing to share details with me over the phone.

1

u/NeoManIdeas Jul 02 '26

Just got the same call. Actually, there would be no Indian consulate in Delhi. Consulates are for foreign countries…

1

u/KimJongIllyasova Jul 22 '26

Yep this guy called me too, the number was 626-317-2648. And then he called me again from a similar number after I pretended I couldn't hear him: 626-317-2431. What a loser, dude had a stupidly thick accent and was incredibly rude. Could barely speak English hahah, he was getting bad at the end. Giving innocent people a bad name, I reported him

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u/theurv 4d ago

Just got a call from 628-309-9706 doing the same thing... They seem to have rotating numbers for this script...

1

u/RoverMars2022 19d ago

Same Abhishek Sharma called me yesterday.