Eight people from across the country have been arrested on federal charges accusing them of defrauding senior citizens in the Rochester region out of more than $11 million.
The eight defendants are accused of using a variety of methods, including romance, customer support, and scams impersonating government agencies, authorities said.
Acting separately, they allegedly defrauded or attempted to defraud 139 seniors, according to a joint investigation detailed Tuesday that involved the FBI, IRS, USPS, and other local and federal law enforcement.
“My office takes this stuff very, very, very seriously, especially when people are preying on our elderly,” said Michael DiGiacomo, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of New York, at a news conference Tuesday. “And when in fact we get information, and we can develop a case, we will find those individuals, we will arrest those individuals, and we will prosecute those people to the fullest extent of the law.”
Prosecutors filed charges Tuesday against Estermarie Jones, 53, of Rochester, Christopher Hernandez, 29, of North Bergen, Renee Thompson, 52, of North Lauderdale, Florida, Dhruv Patel, 34, of Franklin Park, New Jersey, Stephen Odiboh, 53, of Stone Mountain, Georgia, Elias Circle, 23, of Rossford, Ohio, as well as Touhedul Tuhin, 24, and Iftekhar Nieon, 23, both of Kent, Ohio.
Tuhin and Nieon are the only two defendants charged together, and both were in the country on student visas. The rest of the defendants are not thought to be part of any network. In total across the eight defendants, there is believed to be 139 victims.
DiGiacomo noted that there were no consistent methods to the scams, but rather that the alleged fraudsters used a variety of tactics to dupe people out of large amounts of money.
For example, Circle is accused of defrauding an elderly resident of the region by posing as an agent of the federal Office for Victims of Crime, specifically targeting elderly people who were previously victims of a timeshare scam, according to federal court documents.
Under the names Scott Fox and Jeff Rosen, Circle allegedly requested payments in order to receive restitution for the timeshare scam, under the guise of “processing fees.”
When victims ran out of money, he asked them to withdraw funds from their retirement or Social Security, authorities said. One 89-year-old victim allegedly sent Circle over $300,000 in the scam, and incurred over $89,000 in debt, including opening a home equity line of credit to pay Circle.
Meghan McGuire is the lead prosecutor on the cases. She described how fraudsters played off victims’ naivety to escalate the scams. For example, she described a tactic of stealing credit card information, using it to make an odd purchase from a domain the scammer runs, and including a customer service phone number in the transaction. When the person calls to report the fraudulent activity, the next level of the scam kicks in.
“Thinking you’re doing the right thing, you’re actually calling the fraudster, where they convince the victims to give them full access to their bank accounts and transfer more,” she said.
Charges against the eight defendants include wire fraud, money laundering, mail fraud, identity theft, and computer fraud, with maximum penalties ranging from 15 to 30 years in prison.
