Boston/ Crime & Emergencies
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Published on October 10, 2024
South Boston Man Charged with Wire Fraud Conspiracy, Accused of Swindling Elderly Berkshire County Resident Out of $420,000Source: Google Street View

A South Boston man, Urvishkumar Vipulkumar Patel, age 21, finds himself caught up in legal trouble after being charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud for allegedly defrauding an elderly victim out of a staggering $420,000; a scheme that exploited the trust and vulnerability of a 75-year-old man from Berkshire County, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Reports released today revealed how the victim was initially ensnared in the fraud—a deceptively simple pop-up on his computer froze his screen and prompted him to call a number, purportedly for Microsoft support. This led him into an elaborate scam, where he was misled into believing he was involved in a money laundering operation, with claims that properties in both the United States and Russia had been purchased in his name. He was instructed to make cash withdrawals, believing he was helping to resolve the situation. The scheme involved repeated cash withdrawals, orchestrated by someone using the alias "Sam Wilson," who pretended to be a Treasury Department agent. Patel acted as a courier, waiting outside the victim's home to collect the cash deliveries, until an undercover officer ultimately arrested him on Monday as he received a box he believed was meant for the Treasury Department, as stated in the press release.

The complicity of Patel, charged on Monday and released with GPS monitoring, extended to the collection of packages in exchange for payment, a role he claimed was at someone else's order, yet his direct involvement landed him serious charges with harsh potential consequences, including up to 20 years in prison, as explained by the Acting United States Attorney Joshua S. Levy and Jodi Cohen, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Division.

Concern and increased vigilance against such scams—categorized as cybercrimes, elder fraud scams, cryptocurrency scams, romance scams, investment scams, and business email compromise fraud scams, have been highlighted by authorities, who firmly advise victims or those suspecting fraud to contact the appropriate channels such as the FBI’s IC3 Elder Fraud Complaint Center.