A Brookfield man faces up to 30 years in prison after being found guilty of money laundering, a charge stemming from his scheme to steal money from elderly victims, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Wisconsin.
Ankurkumar Patel, 41, posed as a federal agent and stole more than $1 million in cash and gold from elderly victims in various states including Wisconsin, according to a federal indictment.
Patel owned a convenience store in Milwaukee and a hotel in Minnesota, according to the federal indictment. He took part in a “phantom hacker scam," a type of fraud that primarily targets the elderly.
A participant in the phantom hacker scam, who is often located overseas, poses as a customer service agent at a company or government agency. That person contacts the victim and tells them their identity or bank account has been hacked or compromised.
The scammer then refers the victim to a co-conspirator posing as a law enforcement agent, who tells the victim to move their funds, usually in the form of cash or physical gold, to a third-party or government account for safe keeping.
The co-conspirator then coordinates the transfer of the victim’s funds to other participants in the scheme who act as couriers.
The indictment alleges that Patel personally retrieved over $1 million from victims and conspired to launder it by distributing the money to other co-conspirators through anonymous transactions.
In one incident, Patel deceived an elderly woman in Sheboygan, telling her that her computer had been hacked and that she needed to transfer her savings to federal agents.
An indictment in the case says Patel drove from Brookfield to Sheboygan to take $27,500 in cash from the woman, which was then deposited into his business bank account.
Along with prison time, Patel is facing fines of up to $750,000 upon sentencing.
