Ahmedabad: Two men of Gujarati origin were convicted in the US for their roles in a transnational wire fraud that targeted elderly Americans and moved millions of dollars through fraudulent channels.

The scam involved impersonation and money laundering operations carried out through bank accounts set up to receive funds from victims. While one is a native of Ahmedabad, the other is from Gandhinagar.In 2022, the duo and eight others were indicted for running, promoting, and profiting from an India-based call centre scam targeting Americans. The fraudsters typically identified themselves as Social Security Administration employees, telling the victims that their social security numbers had been compromised in connection with criminal activity and promising to help "protect" their assets.

Upon luring the victims to agree to this offer, the fraudsters directed the victims to send money to bank accounts controlled by the duo from Gujarat, and other conspirators.

The conspirators ran call centres in Ahmedabad and some parts of New Jersey, according to case details.Federal prosecutors presented evidence that one of the accused had opened a bank account under the name ‘Seven Points Agency' shortly before victims began wiring large sums of money into it.

In just two days, more than $100,000 was deposited into this account. He reportedly kept approximately $10,000 for himself and quickly transferred the remaining to a co-conspirator, making the transaction difficult to trace.

The accused were charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and two substantive counts of money laundering. While one of them was convicted on all charges, the other was convicted on the conspiracy to commit money laundering count and two counts of substantive money laundering. The count for conspiracy to commit wire fraud carries a maximum sentence of 20 years. Each money laundering charge carries a maximum sentence of 10 years.