Two South Carolina residents pled guilty in federal court Oct. 6, 2020 to laundering over $500,000 on behalf of an India-based phone scam that targeted Social Security beneficiaries.
The Office of the Inspector General for Social Security issued a press release indicating that Mehulkumar Manubhai Patel and Chaitali Dave, both 36, pled guilty to the charges involved with the scam that prosecutors say took place between May 2019 and January 2020. Below is a description of the scam as identified in the press release.
As part of their Social Security scam, India-based callers pose as federal agents in order to mislead victims into believing their Social Security numbers were involved in crimes. Callers threatened arrest and the loss of the victims’ assets if the victims did not send money. The callers directed victims to mail cash to aliases used by other members of the fraud network, including Patel and Dave.
As part of the tech support scam, callers allegedly induced victims to send money in exchange for supposed technical support for their computers. The callers then provided nothing in return. At times, callers misled the victims into providing remote access to their computers and the callers would access the victims’ bank accounts. The callers routinely misled the victims by making it appear as though the caller added money to the victims’ bank accounts. The callers then instructed the victims to mail cash to aliases used by other members of the fraud network, including Patel and Dave.
Based on misrepresentations made during the calls, the victims, including Georgia residents, mailed money to a network of individuals that laundered funds on behalf of the overseas fraud network. From on or about May 2019, to on or about January 2020, Patel and Dave laundered over $500,000 sent by dozens of scam victims.
