Three members of an international group of swindlers who allegedly scammed an elderly Missourian out of more than $120,000 were arrested after being set up in a police sting that went down in a Target parking lot on Monday.
The police probable cause statement says that Ankurkumar Patel, 42, of Wisconsin, and two other men met with the elderly victim on Monday in the parking lot of the store in O'Fallon, Missouri, intending to pick up another $144,000 from the trunk of his car. Patel later told police it was the fourth time he'd picked up cash in this manner. He is now facing charges of felony stealing and is in St. Charles County Jail.
Police say that the scam Patel was part of began in August when suspects contacted the elderly man in St. Charles County and claimed to work for the U.S. Department of the Treasury and other federal agencies. They told him his money could no longer be used because he'd been a victim of identity theft and that he needed to transfer the money to federal authorities so that it could be "rendered usable" and then returned back to him.
The suspects running the scam told the elderly victim that he needed to transfer the money to them by driving around to “various parking lots in St. Charles" where they would remove the money from his trunk.
The elderly man did as the scammers instructed, meeting with the men he thought were federal agents in three different area parking lots and businesses, handing over approximately $129,000.
But then, on September 17, according to Sergeant Bryan Harr with the O'Fallon Police Department, the elderly man walked into police headquarters and explained he'd been scammed out of the six-figure sum.
Harr says that the department wanted to make the most of the fact that the scammers were still in contact with the victim and that, unlike other financial scams, the cash was being handed off in person rather than via wire transfers.
Officers worked with the victim to make it appear as if he was still being fooled. Working with the officers, he arranged with the scammers to turn over another $144,000 in cash to them.
On Monday, the alleged scammers asked the victim to send a photo confirming he actually had the $144,000 in cash. The police came up with enough currency to make it look like the victim was following the scammers' instructions. They rolled the bills with rubber bands, put them in a cardboard box and sent the photo of the cash to the scammers. Both parties arranged to meet at the Target in O'Fallon.
Patel and two other men showed up driving a Camry to meet the elderly man outside the Target. Patel removed from the victim's trunk a box he thought contained the funds — but actually contained only a piece of wood.
Officers then moved in, arresting Patel and the two others without incident.
Back at the police station, Patel admitted he was involved in a "multi-state fraud ring.” He allegedly told police he didn't know how much money he'd collected from victims, but said that he had successfully collected money from marks at least three times previously. He said he’d been working with the same co-conspirators in those incidents as well.
Court documents describe Patel as "part of an international fraud ring." However, Patel told police that he is "currently being exploited by an old acquaintance from India" to whom he owes $60,000 for protection of Patel's family. Harr, with the O'Fallon Police Department, says that the case has been handed over to Homeland Security.
The other two suspects were released pending police applying for charges against them.
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