Indian posing as fraud prevention specialist dupes many US elderly, gets 33 months prison term

An Indian national who posed as a fraud prevention specialist and defrauded senior citizens in the United States was given a 33-month prison term and was charged $2.4 million in fines, as per media reports citing US Department of Justice.

A 29-year-old man Ashish Bajaj on 4August 2022pleadedguilty to the complaint charging him with conspiracy to conduct wire fraud before District Judge Kevin McNulty in Newark federal court.

Also Read | Judge, who presided over Trump's arraignment, receives multiple threats

Add WION as a Preferred Source

The Department of Justice said Thursday that he was sentenced to 33 months in prison and two years of supervised release. It also charged USD 2.4 million in restitution for his involvement in a global conspiracy that preyed on elderly victims in New Jersey and around the US.

According to documents, Bajaj and his cohorts preyed on senior victims throughout the US between April 2020 and August 2021 by posing as fraud prevention specialists for different banks, online shops, and online payment businesses.

Falsely claiming to be fraud protection specialists employed by respected businesses, they phoned victims and informed them that their bank accounts and online payment accounts were being targeted for fraud.

Also Read | Israeli army strikes Lebanon as promised retaliatory measure

Prosecutors claim that Bajaj and his accomplices then misled the victims into believing that they were needed as part of a sting operation to apprehend the fraudsters.

Firstly, they urged the elderly to transfer funds from their bank accounts to the accounts they controlled. Later, they fraudulently promised to repay the elderly victims' money within a few days following the alleged sting operation.

Watch | Rivals Iran and Saudi Arabia hold first high-level talks in seven years

The victims were also misled into believing that the sting operation would result in the arrest of the alleged offenders after they submitted the money. The elderly sent money to several banks in India, China, Singapore, and the United Arab Emirates as international wire transactions, according to court records.

Also, the victims sent funds to Bajaj's American bank accounts with the help of an online application. In addition to that, the elderly victims sent cash and cheques to Bajaj at a Californian location. The records state that the plan caused losses of more than USD 250,000.

WATCH WION LIVE HERE

You can now write for wionews.com and be a part of the community. Share your stories and opinions with us here.