Boston man pleads guilty to helping scam Western Mass. man out of $500K
A South Boston man pleaded guilty last week to participating in a scheme to scam a 75-year-old man out of about $500,000 in cash .
Urvishkumar Vipulkumar Patel, 23, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud in federal court in Springfield, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Prosecutors say that in early 2024, the victim, a North Adams resident, received a pop-up message on his computer saying it was frozen and telling him to call a given phone number. The person who picked up the call identified himself as "Sam Wilson," a law enforcement officer with the U.S. Treasury Department, and told the victim he had been involved in a money laundering scheme. He told him to withdraw cash from his bank accounts and send it to the Treasury Department for safekeeping.
At Wilson's instruction, the victim put the cash in a box with his name and address written on it and taped it shut so he could give it to couriers sent to his home. Wilson told the victim that his bank would not let him take all of the money out at once, so it would need to be done in installments, MassLive previously reported.
The victim provided a box of cash to couriers on five occasions between June and September 2024. Each time, Wilson had the victim describe the clothing he was wearing and gave him a passcode the courier would need to recite when they arrived for the pickup.
On Oct. 1, 2024, the victim's sister reported the situation to the FBI. Federal agents set up a sting with counterfeit money after Wilson requested an additional $33,000.
On Oct. 7, 2024, Patel, posing as a courier, arrived at the victim's home, gave the passcode and took the box of cash. He then drove away in a rental car and was immediately arrested.
Patel was indicted by a federal grand jury the following month.
The investigation remains ongoing, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Patel is scheduled to return to court for sentencing on Feb. 13. The charge of conspiracy to commit wire fraud provides for a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, up to three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000.
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