Martin County - Friday June 28, 2024: Martin County Sheriff Detectives have accused 21-year-old Tejaskumar Bipinbhai Patel of taking part in a phone-scam that threatened elderly victims with jail unless they paid up in gold bars.
Investigator have seized $260,000 in gold bars from Patel and charged him with multiple counts of grand theft
Patel is accused of posing as a law enforcement official, claiming that he has an outstanding warrant for the arrest of the senior he has called, and demanding payment or the they'd be hauled off to jail.
According to a post on the Sheriff's Facebook page, Patel told investigators that he came to the U.S. from India in 2023, passing through immigration using a Green Card. He said he went to work for family in Chicago. However, authorities believe he is linked to a larger group of thieves actively engaged in this kind of phone scam nationwide.
"They use fear tactics to convince mostly elderly citizens to pay up or be humiliated when federal agents pull them out of their homes and take them to prison," states the post on the Sheriff's Facebook page.
In one case, Patel is accused of calling a Martin County resident and convincing him to buy $150,000 in gold bars to satisfy payment on a fake outstanding warrant.
The elderly victim, fearful at the loss of his freedom, complied and, per Patel’s instructions, took the gold bars to a driver who was waiting for the payment. It wasn’t until the gold was gone that the victim realized he was scammed. So, he called MCSO.
Patel was caught after he called the victim back, demanding more gold to clear up the warrant. However by that time MCSO detectives had been contacted and were at the victim’s side.
Patel arrived at the drop-off location and accepted the package. But this time, Patel was intercepted by detectives and road patrol deputies. Inside his vehicle, detectives located more than 100 gold bars worth $242,000 that Patel had just defrauded from another citizen in a neighboring county.
Patel was arrested and charged with multiple counts of grand theft of $100,000 or more.
