Posted on 01/10/2020 8:44:21 PM PST by ransomnote
Department of Justice
Office of Public Affairs
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, January 9, 2020
An Indian national pleaded guilty today in the Southern District of Texas for his role in operating and funding India-based call centers whose callers, and U.S.-based conspirators, defrauded U.S. victims out of millions of dollars between 2013 and 2016.
Hitesh Madhubhai Patel, also known as Hitesh Hinglaj, 43, of Ahmedabad, India, pleaded guilty to wire fraud conspiracy and general conspiracy to commit identification fraud, access device fraud, money laundering, and impersonation of a federal officer or employee.
Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Patrick of the Southern District of Texas, Acting Executive Associate Director Alysa D. Erichs of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Inspector General J. Russell George of the U.S. Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) and Inspector General Joseph V. Cuffari of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) made the announcement today.
"Hitesh Patel played a prominent role in this massive, India-based fraud scheme that bilked vulnerable Americans out of millions of dollars," said Assistant Attorney General Benczkowski. "This important resolution would not have occurred without the assistance of our Singaporean colleagues, to whom we extend our deep appreciation."
According to admissions that he made as part of his plea, Patel and his co-conspirators perpetrated a complex scheme in which employees from call centers in Ahmedabad, India, impersonated officials from the IRS and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), and engaged in other telephone call scams designed to defraud victims throughout the United States. U.S. victims were threatened with arrest, imprisonment, fines or deportation if they did not pay alleged monies owed to the government. Those who fell victim to the scammers were instructed how to provide payment, including by purchasing general purpose reloadable (GPR) cards or wiring money. Upon payment, the call centers would immediately turn to a network of “runners” based in the United States to liquidate and launder the fraudulently obtained funds.
In his plea, Patel admitted to operating and funding several India-based call centers from which the fraud schemes were perpetrated, including the call center HGLOBAL. Patel corresponded by email and WhatsApp messaging frequently with his co-defendants to exchange credit card numbers, telephone scam scripts, deposit slips, payment information, call center operations information and instructions, and bank account information. The scripts included IRS impersonation, USCIS impersonation, Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) impersonation, Australian Tax Office (ATO) impersonation, payday loan fraud, U.S. Government grant fraud, and debt collection fraud.
Patel also received monthly income and expense reports to his personal email from the call centers, and used his Indian cell phone number to access GPR cards through automated telephone systems on many occasions.
A co-defendant described Patel as “the top person in India and the boss for whom most of the other defendants worked,” and the owner of multiple call centers. Another co-defendant stated that Patel was arrested in India in 2016, but then paid a bribe and was released. Additionally, Patel admitted that a reasonably foreseeable loss of more than $25 million but less than $65 million was attributable to him, based on the government’s evidence against him.
Patel was prosecuted in the United States after being extradited from Singapore in April 2019 to face charges in this large-scale telefraud and money laundering scheme. Singapore authorities apprehended Patel at the request of the United States pursuant to a provisional arrest warrant in September 2018, after Patel flew there from India.
U.S. District Judge David Hittner of the Southern District of Texas accepted the plea today and set sentencing for April 3, 2020. At that time, Patel faces up to 20 years in prison for the wire fraud conspiracy and five years for the general conspiracy. Both counts also carry the possibility of a fine of up to $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense.
A total of 24 domestic defendants associated with this transnational criminal scheme have previously been convicted and sentenced to terms of imprisonment of up to 20 years in the Southern District of Texas, District of Arizona and Northern District of Georgia. The defendants were also ordered to pay millions of dollars in victim restitution and money judgments and to forfeit seized assets. Some defendants were ordered to be deported based on their illegal immigration status, with another defendant having his U.S. citizenship revoked due to a separate conviction for immigration fraud. Charges remain pending for other India-based defendants. They are presumed innocent unless and until convicted through due process of law.
HSI, DHS-OIG and TIGTA conducted the investigation. The Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs and HSI Singapore provided significant support in securing and coordinating Patel’s arrest and extradition, working in concert with their counterparts at the Singapore Attorney General’s-Chambers and the Singapore Police Force.
Trial Attorney Mona Sahaf of the Criminal Division’s Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section, Amanda Wick of the Criminal Division’s Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section, and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Mark McIntyre and Craig Feazel of the Southern District of Texas are prosecuting the case.
A Department of Justice website has been established to provide information about the case to victims and the public. Anyone who believes they may be a victim of fraud or identity theft in relation to this investigation or other telefraud scam phone calls may contact the FTC via this website.
Anyone seeking additional information about telefraud scams generally, or preventing identity theft or fraudulent use of their identity information, may find helpful information on the IRS tax scams website, the FTC phone scam website, and the FTC identity theft website.
Topic(s):
Financial Fraud
Elder Justice
Component(s):
Criminal - Human Rights and Special Prosecution Section
Criminal - Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section
Criminal - Office of International Affairs
Your H1-B visa program at work. :-)
Incompetent! After the 2016 bust, he should have shut down the call centers and laid low. He could have gone to the Middle East or Africa and lived it up for a couple of years, and then started fresh with a new scam.
I see so many crimes being prosecuted on President Trump’s watch that occurred during President Obama’s watch. :D
FWIW you can post the full title of an article now.
[Incompetent! After the 2016 bust, he should have shut down the call centers and laid low. He could have gone to the Middle East or Africa and lived it up for a couple of years, and then started fresh with a new scam.]
My sentiments exactly.
Interesting to compare the time line of the swift prosecution of this dirtbag scammer to the much longer time line of the non prosecution of criminal Democrats involved in Spygate and the later coup against POTUS. It seems patently obvious here based on those two examples what crimes the DOJ is interested in prosecuting these days.
I often receive phone calls informing me that the IRS and or Social Security in investigating me and I am subject to forfeiture and imprisonment. I normally just tell them to F Off.
If I am bored and have time on my hands I will play them along and act most concerned and willing to cooperate to avoid the supposed penalties. After playing them along I will ask if they have my last years income tax records up on their computer screen. This is right after they ask for a credit card number. They always say yes. I then ask what was my total gross income last year. At this point they either hang up or there is a few seconds of silence at which point I tell them to F off. If one is bored and has time on your hands it can be most amusing.
What is really evil is these bastards prey on the elderly.
20 plus 5 yrs?
How about 40 plus 5 years!
If you ever get bored and need a laugh go on YouTube and watch videos of hackers getting into these call center scammers computers and crashing their system or taking all the money out of their accts. Its hysterical! Theres even one where Anonymous hacks them.
I get these phone calls as well. And they are still going on, yesterday was a call allegedly from Social Security - allegedly from Vancouver BC. Yeah, Canada. I was in downtown Houston, and in fact walking distance from Ryan Patrick’s office. I told them I would just walk over and turn myself in, besides I was going to pay him a visit anyway. Click.
I know Ryan Patrick from bicycle racing.
I tell them to F off too. I had one guy ,’’James’’, tell me he was from the Social Security ‘’Department’’(we all know it’s ‘’Administration’’). Said I owed $20,000.Said I could pay $400 thru Pay Pal to avoid ‘’legal problems’’. And if I didn’t pay up I’d be arrested. I said “Ok pal, tell you what, send me the $20,000 and I’ll send you the $400’’. He said “No no, you must send $4000 dollars’’. I said “Well then, send me $10,000 and you can owe me the rest. $5,000 now and $5,000 later’’. He said “No you must send the $400!’’ Then when I said “F off!’’.
I like the dude called “Kitboga”. He’s hilarious!
One called me yesterday, caller ID said....fraudulent call. I held and pushed 1 as instructed to talk to someone. When he came on and asked if I wished to join up I said not yet, I have questions. He said, OK, go ahead. I said, why does called ID say that this is a fraudulent call. He says, if you wish to be taken off our list I will do it. I said yes, but one more question first. Is it true that a dogs ass is cleaner than its mouth? CLICK.
Give him the Chair. It’s the only reasonable punishment for these leaches.
I think this should be a capital crime with all assets seized for victims compensation.
Is this why Microsoft and Dell isn’t calling me anymore because they are really worried about my network?
A ring posing as Microsoft tech support recently got busted in India, with help from Microsoft. Say what you will about Microsoft, fraudsters like these hurts Microsoft’s brand as well as defrauding the victims, so I must give kudos to Microsoft for helping law enforcement tracking down the fraudsters.
Absolutely!
For the longest time Dell was the biggest culprit, so much so, that I’m sure the callers were employees because they had my service tag number of my computer.
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