Boss of multimillion call center scam targeting the ‘vulnerable’ is sentenced, feds say

The boss of an international call center scam that defrauded “vulnerable” victims of up to $65 million is going to prison, officials say.

Hitesh Madhubhai Patel, 44, led the international scheme from call centers he operated in India and persuaded fearful people into making phony payments, according to the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas. A federal judge sentenced Patel to 20 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to fraud, money laundering and impersonation of a federal employee charges.

“The long arm of federal law enforcement was key to bringing this con artist to justice,” U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Patrick said in a news release. “Many of these fraudsters prey on the most vulnerable from the perceived safety of foreign lands so there is no sorry in seeing him head to prison.”

Patel and others pretended to be IRS and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services officials and threatened to arrest, imprison, fine or deport people throughout the United States who didn’t comply with their demands to pay money they were told they owed to the government, prosecutors say. They told victims to load money on prepaid cards or wire money, then used a network or “runners” in the U.S. to launder the funds, prosecutors say.

In a plea agreement, Patel admitted he likely pulled in $25 million to $65 million between 2013 and 2016.

In 2016, Patel was arrested in India but went free after paying a bribe, prosecutors say. He was extradited from Singapore last year and pleaded guilty in January.

Sixty others have been charged in this scheme, with 24 defendants convicted in Texas, Arizona and Georgia.

This story was originally published December 1, 2020 at 12:18 PM with the headline "Boss of multimillion call center scam targeting the ‘vulnerable’ is sentenced, feds say."