India, July 10 -- Indian diplomats and officials posted in the United States are grappling with a fresh challenge: an uptick in scammers impersonating officials from Indian diplomatic missions to target members of the Indian diaspora in America.

Officials speaking to HT said that Indian missions receive several complaints every week from the Indian diaspora about such scams. Using digital technologies to spoof phone numbers with US area codes, these scammers impersonate Indian diplomats for a range of scams that run the gamut from requesting fees from victims to expedite travel documentation to telling victims that their India-based cellphone numbers have been used in terrorist activities.

Indian diplomatic missions - recognising the pr...