Indian national sentenced to 12 years in US prison for role in ‘defrauding senior citizens of USD 400,000
A 44-year-old Indian illegal immigrant in the US was sentenced to 12 years in federal prison for his alleged role in an impostor scam worth USD 400,000 that defrauded senior citizens in three American states.
It was in February that a federal jury convicted Nirav Patel, an Indian citizen, of one count of conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud, three counts of wire fraud, and one count of illegal entry into the US by an Alien Enemies Act of 1798.
According to a statement by US Attorney Steven D Weinhoeft of the Southern District of Illinois, '(Patel) admitted that he came to Illinois because the state would give him a driver's license, and then he used that license to steal from the elderly all across the Midwest. We will continue to do all we can to remove this criminal element from our country.'
The scam, which came to light in December 2024, involved fraudsters posing as government officials. 'This scheme targeted elderly victims with text messages and emails purportedly warning that their Amazon accounts had been compromised. When the victims followed up on the messages, they were redirected to scammers posing as federal agents who convinced the victims that they were victims of identity theft who needed to withdraw their life savings to be held in phony USTreasury or FTC trust accounts for safekeeping,' the statement said.
The statement added that the money, 'in reality, was stolen and ultimately transferred to accounts controlled by the scammers in India. The fraudsters kept the victims on the hook by calling them constantly, sometimes for up to 12 hours a day. The scammers also threatened victims with criminal liability if they told their friends or family what was going on.'
Patel had been accused of traveling to the elderly victims' residences to pick up cash and assets. Trial testimony in the case 'established' that, in one instance, Patel picked up USD 77,000 in gold bars from an elderly resident at her assisted living facility, even though she was pushing a walker and on oxygen.
In addition to the fraud charges, Patel was also convicted for entering the US illegally, with 'evidence' showing that Patel sneaked into the country near Vancouver before 'connecting with the fraudsters' in Georgia.
Patel's fraud operation was based in Chicago, where he could get an Illinois driver's license despite being in the U.S. unlawfully. From there, he drove hundreds of miles through Wisconsin, Illinois, and Indiana to take money and gold from elderly victims on behalf of the fraud scheme.
In imposing the 12-year sentence, the Court rejected Patel's claim that he 'had no idea what was going on', stating that the scammers entrusted Patel with hundreds of thousands of dollars at a time.
The case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations, the Edwardsville Police Department, the Merrill Wisconsin Police Department, the Lincoln County Wisconsin Sheriff's Office, and the Franklin Indiana Police Department.
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