Gang includes members in India also.
By The American Bazaar Staff
NEW YORK: Two Indians from Philadelphia were arrested for allegedly conspiring to extort victims to load prepaid debit cards with funds that were stolen as part of the scheme, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman has announced.
Special agents of the FBI and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) arrested Alpeshkumar Patel, 30, and Vijaykumar Patel, 39, of Philadelphia at Vijaykumar Patel’s home on a complaint charging them with conspiracy to commit wire fraud. The duo are not related.
From September 2013 through March 2014, Alpeshkumar Patel and Vijaykumar Patel were part of a conspiracy to steal money using reloadable debit cards. First, the conspirators would purchase reloadable Green Dot Cards, and register them in names other than their own.
The conspirators—some of whom were located in India—contacted victims by phone and used threats or deceit to induce them to put money on MoneyPak cards, which are used along with assigned PIN codes to add funds to Green Dot Cards. The conspirators then used the reloadable cards to purchase money orders that were deposited into bank accounts. All of the steps were taken quickly so law enforcement and victims could not identify the conspirators or prevent or reverse the fraudulent transfers, according to a press release issued by the FBI.
As one example, a retail store located in New Jersey received a telephone call from an unknown caller on Sept. 10, 2013. The caller said there was a bomb in the store and the store manager had five minutes to comply with the caller’s demands or the bomb would detonate. The caller then demanded the manager load 10 $500 MoneyPak cards and provide the caller with the associated PIN codes. The manager had provided the code for one card before law enforcement arrived at the store, instructed the manager to hang up the phone, and evacuated the building.
The $500 associated with that code was transferred to an existing prepaid reloadable Green Dot Card. Surveillance video showed Alpeshkumar Patel in the Philadelphia CVS where the Green Dot Card was bought. That card was then used by Vijaykumar Patel, who was caught on video purchasing two money orders in a Philadelphia Wal Mart. The money orders, in turn, were used to deposit funds into a bank account.
Phone numbers and IP addresses associated with the September 10, 2013, call and other calls tied to the conspiracy were tied to approximately 2,500 Green Dot Cards that were funded in excess of $5.8 million.
The charge of conspiracy to wire fraud carries a maximum potential penalty of 20 years in prison and a fine of the greater of $250,000, or twice the gross profits to the defendants or twice the gross loss suffered to the victims of the offense.
It’s not known how many victims there are, but it’s likely that the Patels defrauded many victims on H-1B and H4 visas, who were forced to buy Green Dot cards and money extorted from them, on calls that threatened to deport them. Read that story here:
http://www.americanbazaaronline.com/2013/08/22/h-1b-visa-holder-a-call-from-911-beware/
5 Comments
I am a victim,i reported it ,they (indian people)call then they ask you to get a money pac card,me well I just entered to win I always do so I thought it was legit,anyways ,they ask you to get a green dot card,i did I loaded it,told them info, then they transferred me (probably to someone in America) then I give them the info,then they transfer me again….thye then asked for tax money ,that the state I lived in wouldn’t let me receive the money with out sending $500,at which point I realized they are scamming me and told them that I wasn’t interested and that I wanted my 50000 dollar check and they said they needed the money ,this went on for acouple minutes,i asked to speak to the manager or head honcho,and they transfer me AGAIN….then I get on the hone and argue again that if this was legit that they wouldn’t ask for money,went on and on then I fucked with em…hahaha,i told them that the FBI and police are involved and that the call was being traced ,and then I really did report them to the better business bearue.
HOw can I get the little bit I gave away back I wonder????anyone know ?????
Glad these Green Dot money scammers are finally getting their payback…JAIL suckaaaaaaaaas
There are recent disturbing reports about how the H-1b is actually used.
For example, we don’t know how many H-1b workers actually bought the opportunity to get to head of the line in the H-1b process and for hiring consideration. Or paid off their recruiters with a huge loan and bondage agreements, essentially how many H-1b workers are actually victims of Human Trafficking, and are ILLEGALLY indebted to their recruiters or Offshore Outsourcing company?
It appears that U.S. head-hunters working in India are particularly corrupt, and it could well be the case that by increasing the number of H-1b visas we will simply be feeding organized crime in India.
The administration is making move to destroy LCA records, a move that will interfere with any ability to get a handle on this. And I am worried that this is part of a bigger cover-up to hide the discriminatory and illegal hiring practices of Indian companies that have also contracted with our Federal Government.
We do know that H-1b is mostly used by Indian Offshore Outsourcing companies, and that any increase in the number of H-1b visas will simply feed the process of removing jobs from the United States. Offshore Outsourcing companies stuffing the H-1b request box each year, is the reason why we run out of H-1b visas.
We need to fix that first, so that our legitamite tech companies can begin to hire qualified candidates, from where ever they actually are, not just from companies that monopolize the H-1b system by taking every slot, and then essentially bringing in benched workers.
The Offshore Outsourcing companies do not even try to hire U.S. citizens. In recent court documents an InfoSys senior manager tells a U.S. recruiter that “Americans don’t know (expletive)”. When that recruiter attempted to present the resumes of several qualified U.S. citizens, that the recruiter had already reviewed. The recruiter was then directed to only consider resumes of people from India, for jobs on U.S. soil.
How can we allow companies with such openly discriminatory and racist hiring practices contract with our Federal Government and use our H-1b visa system to discriminate against workers in the United States, for jobs on U.S. soil?????
And if Offshore Outsourcing companies were barred from using our Visa systems (a move that is entirely reasonable given the nature of their business – to destroy jobs and opportunity in the United States, and also that their racist hiring practices have been exposed in court), we would never have seen a year, since inception, where we ran out of H-1b visas.
The only thing holding back the U.S. tech economy is that we allow companies that use bribes and corruption to grab most of the H-1b visas we issue each year. Companies that sell their positions to the highest bidder, without regard to finding the best candidates for a job are the kind of companies that bring tech companies down. Further how can we, in good conscience, allow such a system to facilitate human trafficking from India?
The H-1b system is a National Disgrace.
Indians will rip anyone and everyone off – including their own people. A whole country of con artists and frauds
A whole country of con artists and frauds?? Really? You chose a good nick name for yourself. ’nuff said!