The ringleader of a group of Indian college students doing hospitality industry internships in the US who cheated more than 20 people out of nearly $1 million in a tech support telemarketing fraud scheme has been sentenced to five years in prison.

Federal authorities say 21-year-old Bishwajeet Kumar Jha was also sentenced Monday in Rhode Island to pay restitution in an amount to be determined.

The victims believed they had purchased technology support. They were told that money had been erroneously refunded to their bank accounts by the tech support company and were asked to return the erroneous refund to Jha and others.

The money generated by the Newport-based scheme was transferred to a California bank and from there to India, China, and Singapore.

One victim lost more than $174,000.