Indian arrested in U.S. over money scam targeting senior citizens

The indictment alleges victims across the U. S. were sometimes re-victimised multiple times by the Indian national and threatened with bodily harm if they did not pay

Federal law enforcement officials have arrested an Indian national in Virginia on charges of participating in an alleged nationwide scam targeting senior citizens.

Anirudha Kalkote, 24, was produced before a U. S. magistrate in Houston on Friday to face the charges.

The 12-count superseding indictment charges Kalkote with conspiracy and mail fraud. Also named in the indictment is M. D. Azad, 25, an illegal resident of Houston, who was originally charged in August 2020. He will appear again in court on the new charges in the near future.

The indictment alleges victims were sometimes re-victimised multiple times and threatened with bodily harm if they did not pay.

Upon conviction, both of them face up to 20 years in federal prison and a possible $250,000 fine.

Three others have already pleaded guilty in relation to the scheme and are awaiting sentencing — Sumit Kumar Singh, 24, Himanshu Kumar, 24, and MD Hasib, 26. They are Indian nationals who illegally resided in Houston.

According to the charges, the ring tricked and deceived victims using various ruses and instructed them to send money via wire through a money transmitter business such as Western Union or MoneyGram, by buying gift cards and providing to the fraudsters or by mailing cash to alias names via FedEx or UPS.