BOSTON — Thirteen people have been charged in a transnational elder fraud scheme that allegedly used a call center in the Dominican Republic to trick hundreds of U.S. seniors into believing their relatives were in trouble and needed money.
According to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts, over the course of the investigation, over 400 victims with an average age of 84 were identified, including at least 50 in Massachusetts, with more than $5 million in losses.
“According to the charging documents, the defendants, led by defendant Oscar Manuel Castanos Garcia, ran a sophisticated ‘call center’ operation in the Dominican Republic that tricked hundreds of elderly victims in the United States into believing that their grandchildren and other close family members were in trouble and needed money,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts said in its statement. “Once the defendants obtained the money, they allegedly laundered their illicit proceeds back to the Dominican Republic.”
Prosecutors allege that Castanos Garcia operated call centers in the Dominican Republic staffed with English-speaking co-conspirators who carried out so-called “grandparent scams.” In these schemes, an “Opener” would call victims posing as a grandchild involved in an accident, followed by a “Closer” pretending to be the grandchild’s attorney requesting money for fees. Castanos Garcia allegedly managed the operations with the help of several managers who supervised, trained, and paid the employees.
“As alleged in the indictment, callers for Castanos Garcia’s call centers would instruct elderly victims to provide cash to “runners” in the United States,” the U.S. Attorney’s Officer for the District of Massachusetts said in its statement. “Most often, the callers would instruct victims to give the packages with cash to rideshare drivers who were ordered to the victim’s house by a runner. The runners would then have the unsuspecting rideshare drivers deliver the packages to the runners at nearby locations. In some cases, the callers would direct the victims to ship packages of cash to specified addresses via mail or commercial carriers.”
Prosecutors say the call centers often contacted victims multiple times to request additional money for their supposed grandchildren—sometimes two or three more times—citing fabricated reasons such as a “mix-up” or a “pregnant woman’s baby lost in the crash.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts, co-conspirators sometimes arranged for unsuspecting rideshare drivers to transport elderly victims to banks to withdraw more money. At the direction of Castanos Garcia and others, “runners” allegedly handled the victims’ funds by depositing cash into bank accounts or delivering it to co-conspirators in New York and other locations. The scheme’s operators also allegedly used money launderers in the United States and the Dominican Republic to transfer proceeds from victims in the U.S. to Castanos Garcia and others in the Dominican Republic.
The charge of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a fine of up to $250,000, or twice the victim’s loss. The money laundering conspiracy charge carries the same potential prison term and supervised release, with a fine of up to $500,000 or twice the laundered amount, whichever is greater. Sentences are determined by a federal district court judge under the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and applicable statutes.
U.S. Attorney Leah B. Foley and Ted E. Docks, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Boston Division, announced the charges today. The investigation received assistance from the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs; the Dominican National Police; the División Especial de Investigación del Crimen Organizado Internacional (DEICROI); the Central de Investigaciones Criminales (DICRIM); and the Ministerio Público. Assistant U.S. Attorney David M. Holcomb of the Criminal Division is prosecuting the case.
Anyone who believes they may be a victim in this case, or of another elder fraud scheme, is urged to contact USAMA.VictimAssistance@usdoj.gov or call 1-800-CALL-FBI (1-800-225-5324). Suspected fraud can also be reported through the FBI’s IC3 Elder Fraud Complaint Center.
