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Fraud in America: A Gujarati and a Chinese man together defrauded an elderly American couple by converting their life savings into gold. Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) officials have arrested Gujarati-origin Harmish Patel and China's Wenhui Sun for fraud worth nearly $1.4 million.
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On July 29, 25-year-old Harmish Patel was arrested for defrauding a couple from Troy, New York of $1 million. Wenhui Sun is accused of defrauding a Maryland couple of $331,817. Homeland Security Investigations discovered a connection between the two disappearances and traced other accomplices through Harmish Patel's phone records.
According to reports, a couple living in Troy, New York received an email from PayPal. It said, '$465.88 will be deducted from your account in the next 24 hours.' Two customer support phone numbers were also given with this mail, through which they can stop the transaction.
A man named Gannon, claiming to be a Microsoft employee, gave the couple the number of a woman named Elizabeth Shneirov through customer support and said she was an assistant director at the Federal Trade Commission. Elizabeth Shneirov told the couple, “Your lifelong earnings are at risk because your social security numbers have been compromised. So that your capital can be safe in the locker of the US Treasury Department.” The couple followed his advice and made an online transaction of $102,000 with China-based Dingxi Trade Limited on December 5, 2023.
Elizabeth then called the couple again on December 7 and asked them to convert the rest of the money into gold and put it in a locker at the Treasury Department for safekeeping. The couple bought a total of three gold bars worth at least $1 million.
Harmish Patel committed fraud of 1 million dollars
Harmish Patel, a resident of Streamwood, Illinois, collected gold worth $1,058,082 from the couple in two months. In January, while he was on a 6-month leave. When the couple demanded their money back, a fake US agency official said, 'Your social security numbers will be cancelled.' The couple then contacted their financial adviser, who contacted the police after suspecting fraud.
Special agents of Homeland Security Investigations contacted Harmish Patel based on the car's number plate. His phone records showed that he had made frequent video calls to a person marked as 'conspirator Z' in the HSI records. Further investigation revealed that in February 2024, another couple from Silver Spring, Maryland was similarly duped of 331,817. Harmish Patel and Wenhui Sun were arrested in this case.
Both the accused were working for the same gang
Wenhui Sun claimed that he was working on the instructions of a Chinese man. Hermesh Patel's chat also showed someone saving him as 'best friend' giving him instructions. Documents and sources related to the case have revealed that both these accused were working for the same gang.