NEWTON, Mass. — A New York man is accused of posing as a government agent in a scam to defraud a 72-year-old Newton woman out of nearly half a million dollars, the district attorney said Tuesday.
Vishal Kumar, 23 of Queens, New York has been arraigned on charges of extortion, larceny over $250 from a person over 60 and conspiracy, Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan said in a statement.
Kumar was indicted by a Middlesex County Grand Jury on Feb. 26. At his arraignment, Kumar was ordered held in lieu of $500,000 cash bail. His next court date is April 2.
On or about Dec. 4, 2024, the victim received a telephone call from people claiming to be agents of the federal Drug Enforcement Agency, Ryan said.
The callers allegedly told the victim that someone had opened 22 accounts in her name. They claimed that the woman was responsible for $2 million dollars in those accounts, which was being used in illegal narcotics transactions, Ryan said.
When the victim told the “agents” that she had not opened the accounts, she was told that to stop any identity theft, she would have to transfer all her assets to the U.S. Treasury and that she would be given Treasury checks to secure those assets, Ryan said.
The victim was told that if she did not cooperate, the FBI would arrest her.
Another caller then contacted victim and claimed to be her “case manager” from the U.S. Treasury.
That person directed her to transfer her money to the Treasury by purchasing gold bars, after which, her social security number would be changed and her money returned. The victim was directed to buy gold bars and deliver them to couriers at times and locations specified by the caller.
Over the next month, and fearing arrest, the victim liquidated hundreds of thousands of dollars from her retirement account to purchase gold bars, Ryan said.
Twice the victim delivered to a courier sent by the scammers.
On Dec. 17, she delivered 12 bars of gold worth approximately $342,000. Then, on Dec. 24, she delivered three bars of gold worth approximately $88,955.43.
On Dec. 26, the victim also wired $49,755 to a bank account at the direction of the scammers, Ryan said.
The scammers told the victim that her gold would be secured by Treasury checks, Ryan said. Although she was sent images from the “agents,” which they represented to be Treasury checks, the victim ultimately lost over $480,000.
The victim’s family later learned that the victim was being coerced into liquidating her assets, and reported it to law enforcement. Police launched an investigation.
An undercover officer posed as the victim and delivered a package, which was supposed to contain $165,000 in gold bars, to Kumar.
Kumar first confirmed the code-word given to the victim by the fraudster posing as federal agent on the telephone. Newton Police detectives and FBI special agents arrested Kumar after he confirmed the code-word and took the package, Ryan said.
The U.S. Secret Service later confirmed that the images of the checks were counterfeit.
“This elaborate scheme illustrates several common aspects of these financial scams,” Ryan said.
Kumar “and his alleged co-conspirators used multiple points of contact to build trust, they posed as official government agents, assigned a ‘case worker’ in an effort to appear helpful to the victim and even created fake documents to serve as receipts,” Ryan said.
“Additionally, the perpetrators sought to strike fear in the victim, using the threat of criminal prosecution to pressure her into making huge financial payments,” Ryan said.
“These scams thrive in secrecy,” Ryan said. “Fortunately, in this case, the victim and her family were able to enlist the help of law enforcement within a fairly short period of time which put a stop to this exploitation but not before the victim suffered a staggering loss of nearly half a million dollars.”
An investigation into the role of Kumar’s co-conspirators is ongoing, Ryan said.
If you are a victim of fraud or attempted fraud you can report it to the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center.
For more information and tips, view the FBI Fraud Alert here.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
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