2 men charged in $5.8 million prepaid debit card extortion scam

NEWARK, N.J. — Two Philadelphia men were arrested on federal wire fraud charges Tuesday for allegedly conspiring to extort multiple individuals by either threatening or tricking them into loading money onto prepaid debit cards extorted by the conspirators. The scheme was investigated by the Joint Terrorism Task Force and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

FBI and HSI special agents arrested Alpeshkumar Patel, 30, and Vijaykumar Patel, 39, of Philadelphia at Vijaykumar Patel's home Tuesday on felony conspiracy to commit wire fraud charges. According to the complaint unsealed Tuesday, from September 2013 to March 2014, Alpeshkumar Patel and Vijaykumar Patel were part of a conspiracy that stole more than $5.8 million using approximately 2,500 reloadable debit cards.

The conspirators allegedly purchased reloadable Green Dot Cards, and registered them in names other than their own. The conspirators – some of whom were located in India – then contacted victims via phone and used threats or deceit to induce them to put money on MoneyPak cards, which along with assigned PIN codes are used to add funds to Green Dot Cards. The conspirators then used the reloadable cards to purchase money orders that they then deposited into bank accounts under the control of the conspirators. The conspirators took these steps to preclude law enforcement and victims from identifying the conspirators or stopping the fraudulent transfers.

As one example, a retail store in New Jersey received a telephone call from an unknown caller on Sept. 10, 2013, who claimed there was a bomb in the store and the manager had five minutes to comply with the caller's demands or the bomb would detonate. The caller then demanded the manager load ten $500 MoneyPak cards and provide the caller with the associated PIN codes. The manager provided the code for one card before law enforcement arrived, instructed the manager to hang up the phone, and evacuated the building.

The $500 associated with that code was subsequently transferred to a prepaid Green Dot Card that surveillance video shows Alpeshkumar Patel purchased from a Philadelphia CVS. That card was then used by Vijaykumar Patel, who was caught on video purchasing two money orders in a Philadelphia WalMart. The money orders, in turn, were used to deposit funds into a bank account.

Patel and Patel each face 20 years in federal prison if convicted of the conspiracy to commit wire fraud charge in addition to a $250,000 fine. Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Kogan of the U.S. Attorney's Office Economic Crimes Unit in Newark is prosecuting the case on behalf of U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman.

The charges and allegations contained in the complaint are merely accusations and the defendants are considered innocent unless and until proven guilty.