An Indian-American, aged 41, has been handed a prison term of over three years after confessing to possessing fake identity documents and running an unlicensed money transfer operation.
Vimalkumar Trivedi’s fraudulent actions resulted in losses of around $1.5 million for victims, according to the Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of Indiana.
US District Court Chief Judge Tanya Walton Pratt imposed a 46-month sentence, along with three years of supervision by the US Probation Office after Trivedi’s release from federal prison.
Trivedi and co-conspirators in the US and India posed as federal law enforcement officers, targeting victims, including elderly individuals, by falsely claiming their Social Security numbers were linked to criminal activities. Under threat of arrest, victims were coerced into withdrawing large sums of cash and mailing them to fictional individuals. Trivedi, employing 53 false identification documents, tracked and collected the cash from various FedEx locations, retaining $60,000 for personal use and forwarding the rest to associates. Law enforcement’s investigation identified approximately 17 victims, 50 suspected victims, and roughly $1.5 million in total losses.