A 44-year-old Brookfield man was sentenced to seven years in federal prison this week for serving as a courier in a scheme that drained more than $1 million from elderly victims across the country, who were tricked into handing over cash and gold bars to strangers after being told their identities had been stolen. Ankurkumar Patel pleaded guilty in June to conspiracy to commit money laundering before receiving his sentence.
U.S. District Judge Brett Ludwig sentenced Patel, as reported by Greater Milwaukee Today. Ludwig also ordered Patel to pay more than $1.3 million in restitution to his victims, and said in court that Patel specifically targeted elderly people. Patel owns a hotel in Minnesota and a convenience store in Milwaukee, according to the same report.
Court records describe how the scheme, known as a phantom hacker scam, works in stages. Fraudsters pose as customer service agents or government officials and falsely claim a victim's identity or bank account has been compromised, then refer the victim to co-conspirators posing as law enforcement agents who direct them to move their funds, usually cash or gold, into third-party or government accounts for supposed safekeeping. The scam can involve three stages: fake tech support, fake bank officials and impersonated government agents.
Gold Bar Pickups in North Aurora
More than $1.1 million in gold bars was collected in North Aurora in connection with the case. The case involved three pickups there.
Patel's role fits a pattern seen across similar federal cases: he retrieved and laundered victim funds from multiple elderly people in several states, then distributed the money to co-conspirators living overseas through anonymous, surreptitious transactions, according to Greater Milwaukee Today's account of the sentencing. Patel operated as a mobile courier, retrieving cash and gold bars from scam victims in Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, and Kentucky between May and September 2023. Federal law enforcement agencies, including Homeland Security Investigations and the FBI, have reported that U.S. couriers in these schemes are typically coordinated by overseas call centers located primarily in India and South Asia, per FOX6 Milwaukee.
Earlier Charges Show a Longer Pattern
This was not Patel's first brush with federal fraud charges. Federal prosecutors in St. Louis indicted Patel on federal wire fraud conspiracy charges over an alleged attempt to collect $144,000 from an elderly fraud victim in a Missouri Target parking lot in September 2023, according to the U.S. Department of Justice's Eastern District of Missouri. When a federal grand jury in Milwaukee later indicted Patel in August 2025 on the money laundering charges, he faced statutory maximum penalties of up to 20 years for money laundering conspiracy and up to 10 years for substantive money laundering, according to the Eastern District of Wisconsin.
WISN 12 News has tallied more than $18 million in losses among Wisconsin residents. Nationally, the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center has reported that older Americans lost $4.885 billion to cybercrime in 2024, a 43 percent jump over the prior year, per the Identity Theft Resource Center.
Prosecutors Vow to Keep Pursuing Scammers
U.S. Attorney Brad Schimel said in a statement that the scammers caused financial devastation to Americans who worked their whole lives to save for retirement, and he pledged that prosecutors will aggressively pursue those who steal from senior citizens.
In similar schemes, money often goes to overseas co-conspirators, while victims can lose their savings. A separate case involved $137,000 in pandemic assistance.
Anyone who believes they have been targeted by a similar scam can contact the FBI at 414-276-4684 or file a report online at IC3.gov.
