Jaykumar Patel, 33, a resident of Tampa was sentenced to 72 months in prison and was fined $25,000 for his involvement in a bank fraud conspiracy. According to the court, Patel was a runner for an Indian-based fraud conspiracy targeting elderly and vulnerable victims in the United States.
There have been an increasing number of such phone frauds where the victims end up being scared and not wanting to be on the wrong side of the law, falling prey to such scamsters. Every year, US law enforcement officers disrupt many such operations, also called mule operations in various states.
Usually, in such cases, the victims get calls from ‘so-called’ law enforcement officers scaring them and asking them to leave parcels of money at a certain place, so the federal officers can pick up the parcels and clear their names.
The law department has said that the elderly are especially vulnerable and the total loss has been to the tune of $481,000. They have spread the word that law enforcement officers would never make such threats or demand money. They have also advised the elderly to talk to their family before going ahead.
The department has also issued National Elder Fraud Hotline: 833-FRAUD-11. They have also started Money Mule Initiative through which they have managed to disrupt a lot of laundering activities of innocent victims.
