Scammer Tricks Missoula Senior Out Of A Million Dollars
Missoula, MT (KGVO-AM News) - Assistant U.S. Attorney for Montana Tim Racicot told KGVO News on Wednesday that his office has prosecuted an individual who bilked a Missoula senior citizen out of over $1 million.
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“We keep tabs on all the different kinds of scams and schemes that tend to target our elderly population,” began Racicot. “As you probably noticed, if you read the press release that we put out, we cited to a case where we charged recently involving a gentleman originally from the country of India, who was targeting an elderly person here in Montana, and was recently arrested and charged with wire fraud by initially by a complaint and eventually by an indictment.”
Racicot provided more specifics of the fraud.
Racicot said the Victim was a Senior Citizen in Missoula
“What we allege is that he contacted an elderly victim here in Missoula, posing as an individual from Amazon and inquiring whether that victim had purchased any computer equipment, and when she said she had not purchased any equipment, he claimed that her identity had been stolen and transferred her to people he said worked for Social Security and the United States Marshal Service,” he said.
Racicot explained how the criminal agents were able to steal the victim’s money.
“They would try to get her money back, but it needed to be legalized,” he said. “Then they had individuals show up at her house on several occasions and actually pick up money from her that they said they were going to hold for her and, quote, ‘legalize it’, and then she gave them the money. Law enforcement set up a sting operation, basically when he returned the final time, and were able to find him and arrest him.”
Racicot repeated the reasons why these criminals seek out the elderly in any community.
“They can target anybody in society, but we tend to be more concerned about our elderly friends and neighbors, because often they are alone, they aren't in constant contact with somebody, and they tend to be the generation that has accumulated a little bit more wealth, so they make targets for organizations like this, because they assume that they're going to have more assets than somebody who might be from a younger generation.”
READ MORE: How A Montana Woman Lost $90,000 To A Romance Scam
The U.S. Attorney's Office said Perpetrators are Both Domestic and Foreign Actors
The U. S. Attorney’s office in Helena said DOJ (Department of Justice) prosecutors have arrested and filed cases against foreign fraudsters and domestic actors who have knowingly facilitated foreign-based crimes.