The FBI and state police agencies are cracking down on gangs of Indian nationals who sell fake gold bars to trusting American seniors.
In Maryland, for instance, federal authorities moved in to shut down three India-based call centers that were making cold calls to U.S. seniors to sell fraudulent gold bars. The scammers reportedly stole upwards of $50 million from more than 600 victims in the U.S. through wire transfer, cryptocurrency, and gold bar schemes, ABC News reported
The FBI arrested six alleged ring leaders in the U.S. after the investigation.
In February, authorities in Georgia, Florida, and Texas conducted simultaneous raids to dismantle another multi-state gold bar scam operation, according to WAGA-TV in Atlanta.
Two jewelry stores and a gold refinery were raided. The targets included Malani Jewelers in Decatur, Georgia, Malani Jewelers in Richardson, Texas, and Orlando Gold Refinery in Altamonte Springs, Florida.
Investigators said that the suspects posed as law enforcement officials who pressured elderly Americans to take money out of their bank to purchase gold and to then hand the precious metals over to the scammers under false pretenses.
“Investigators allege that portions of that gold were later processed, melted, or otherwise handled through affiliated businesses,” the investigators stated.
In another case, the U.S. Secret Service announced an investigation into a scam that reportedly defrauded more than $5 million from a resident in West Newton, Pennsylvania.
Secret Service investigators said the man responded to a PayPal transaction and was then contacted by people who he thought were federal agents investigating a crime. The man later handed these fake agents a large sum of his money.
Federal investigators traced the scam to Indian nationals living in Ohio. The FBI arrested Tejas Bhupendrabhai Patel, 31, a resident of Toledo, and Navya Umeshkumar Bhatt, 22, a citizen of India, and charged them with money laundering conspiracy, concealment of money laundering, and promotion of money laundering. Both have been detained since at least late January, according to TribLive.
Also, late in January, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Florida announced the conviction and sentencing of Indian national Atharva Shailesh Sathawane, 23, who was sentenced to 18 years in prison after a jury previously found him guilty of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
Trial evidence and court documents showed that the defendant, an illegal alien who had overstayed his student visa, was a courier in an international fraud scheme that targeted elderly victims. As part of the scheme, multiple elderly victims were convinced to liquidate their retirement accounts to obtain cash, gold, or both. The defendant would travel to each victim to take possession of large quantities of their cash and gold, and he would then deliver those fraudulently obtained proceeds to his co-conspirators, some of whom were orchestrating the fraud scheme from India.
These investigations show how the Trump administration is connecting the dots between illegal migrants and fraud. After the massive billion-dollar fraud in Minnesota, the Trump administration has brought its work to root out waste and corruption in many places that it infests our nation.
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