Patel reportedly was involved in a scam that stole $80,000 in cash from a Fairborn man. He also traveled to California, Maryland, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Texas and Virginia to collect and attempt to collect funds from elderly victims, according to U.S. Southern District of Ohio court records.
Patel was based in Chicago after traveling to the U.S. on a visitor’s visa. He was arrested in Fairborn on Feb. 7 after the U.S. Secret Service set up a sting operation with the help of the Fairborn victim and Fairborn police.
In addition to Fairborn, Patel did three pickups in Illinois, two in Michigan and one in Cincinnati, receiving approximately $146,000 and multiple gold bars from the six victims, according to federal court records.
Patel claimed a person called Jeck told him to pick up the money.
“According to Patel, Jeck always provided the pickup addresses and required him to video the collected money,” the complaint read. “Once the pickup was completed and after a thorough count, Patel was then instructed to place the money, or in some instances gold, into a backpack and directed to a given parking lot where he would meet another unknown individual.”
As part of the scam, participants operating phonebanks from Asia would call victims and claim to be officials from various agencies, including the Federal Trade Commission.
The FTC website says its officers will not demand money, tell people to transfer money, promise a prize or make threats.
The phonebank operators told victims their bank accounts were linked to illegal activity and the victims needed to transfer funds to the federal government in various forms, including cash, according to court records.
Once the victims confirmed they had the money, the phonebank operator would send a logistics team to get the funds. The operators would give specific details as to how the victims should prepare the money and where they should meet.
The Fairborn man was contacted by a phonebank operator claiming to be FTC officer on Nov. 28, 2023.
“(The scammer) presented (the man) with three options: (a) cooperate with the FTC which would endanger (the man) and his family, (b) fight the charges in federal court, or (c) work with (the scammer) to segregate the clean money from the illicit money by making deposits into U.S. government-controlled accounts,” court records stated.
In November and December, the man moved tens of thousands of dollars from various bank accounts. At one point he got a cashier’s check for approximately $150,000 and deposited it at a Bank of America in Middletown in an account the scammer provided.
He also withdrew $80,000 in cash and gave $40,000 each to a reported “logistics” team on two occasions.
“Once the money was withdrawn, (the scammer) instructed (the man) to place the $40,000 in a box, put white paper over the top, seal the box, wrap it in white paper and write ‘The Court’ on the outside,” according to court records. “(The man) stated he also wrote his return address in the corner. (The scammer) requested (the man) to provide him with pictures of every step of (him) packaging the money.”
On Jan. 5, law enforcement contacted the man and informed him he was being scammed. The man initially blocked all phone numbers related to the scammer but unblocked them later that month to help set up the sting operation.
A U.S. Secret Service task force special agent helped the man take staged photos to send to the scammer and used $60,000 in previously seized counterfeit money to place in a decoy box, according to court documents.
On Feb. 7, the scammer reportedly told the man to stand outside his home to give the money to a logistics team. The special agent took the decoy box and placed it in a Dodge Challenger that pulled up to the curb. The vehicle then drove away and was pulled over by Fairborn police.
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