Indian-American jailed for elderly fraud

New York : The US Attorney’s Office Eastern District of Virginia has announced that an Indian-American has been sentenced to 51 months in prison for conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud targeting the elderly. Jill Patel, 22, from South Carolina was part of the scheme from February to June 2020, which originated from call centers in India. It targeted the elderly.

According to court documents, these call centers will initially contact victims using automated robocalls, which are designed to create a sense of urgency with the recipients. After making initial contact with victims, conspirators known as cronies would impersonate government officials such as FBI or DEA agents.

These closures involved victims wiring funds to bank accounts controlled by the conspiracy, or shipping parcels of cash to addresses the conspirators had access to. Couriers working for the conspiracy retrieved the stolen money from victims, kept a portion for themselves, and sent the rest to call center operators in India.

Zeel was a courier who worked for Bhavinkumar ‘Sunny’ Patel, who was previously prosecuted by the Eastern District of Virginia. Patel, 28, of Richmond, operated a cell of couriers in several states that was responsible for more than $3 million in damages to more than 120 victims. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison in April 2022.

During the brief four-month period Zeil worked for Patel, the defendant attempted to steal 14 packages from 10 different victims with actual losses totaling $485,020. Court documents revealed that Zeil also participated in repeated home pickups, during which he traveled to the homes of two separate 80-year-old victims located in Michigan and South Carolina and met the victims under the guise of being a DEA officer. Took money directly.