The charges are the results of a two-year investigation between the US and Dominican authorities. The stolen money funded a gorgeous lifestyle abroad.
FBI raises flag of elder fraud
As more grandparents get online, more scammers are thinking about how to take their money.
Fox – Seattle, Fox – Seattle
Federal prosecutors say 13 individuals have been charged in connection with an operating fraud call center that has raised more than $5 million for fraudulent 400 seniors across the country.
On August 12, the Dominican Republic-based call center announced the Massachusetts District, a US law firm aimed at seniors in the United States. The con artist earned money by winning victims, believing that his grandchild or close family were in trouble and desperately needed the money he needed.
The average age of hundreds of victims was 84, prosecutors said.
According to Leah B. Foley, a U.S. lawyer in Massachusetts, “their goal was to “deceive parents, grandparents, neighbors and friends to pretend to be false and save lives.”
Of the 13 people charged in federal court in Massachusetts, nine are in custody, according to the Department of Justice. The two suspected fraudsters are large in the US, with two in the Dominican Republic, said Christina Sterling, a spokesman for the U.S. Lawyer’s Office, at a press conference on August 12.
The charges against 13 include conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, as well as money laundering conspiracy, prosecutors said. Suspected fraudsters face potential decades in prison if convicted.
At least one person has already pleaded guilty.
“Ring Leader” in detention
In addition to the FBI, the Department of Justice’s Bureau of International Affairs participated in the investigation, as well as Dominican agencies, including the Dominican National Police. Dominican authorities said the arrest was the result of a two-year investigation.
Among the nine people in custody are Oscar Manuel Castanos Garcia, the chief operator of the call center. Sterling, a spokesman for the US lawyer’s office, described him as a “training person” and said he was arrested in the Dominican Republic on August 12th.
Casanos Garcia, 33, is suspected of instructing the fraudsters to follow the scripts of their calls, leading the victims to believe their loved ones call from prison after the car accident and need money to post bail, the US Power of Attorney said. He ran a call centre from homes in Santiago de los Caballeros and Puerto Plata.
“I was called for a five-minute call. I called you because I know you can help me,” read the script shared by the Ministry of Justice. “Please, please, I promise to keep this between us until I get out, I am embarrassed about this.”
The script instructed him to hang up by telling the victim that “I love you.”
According to the federal affidavit, the caller obtained information about the victim via the dark web. Castanos Garcia and several others are expected to be arrested and extradited in the Dominican Republic.
Money was directed towards “luxurious purchases.”
Grandparents’ fraud schemes rely on several operators who play a key role from “openers” to “openers,” from “runners” who make the first call to seniors to “runners” who wash cash from victims and then to the Dominican Republic, according to Justice Department officials.
According to prosecutors, operators kept “scoreboards” in the call center, indicating “close” pairings that the pairings performed. Closer is responsible for making a second call to the victim. In Massachusetts, operators posed as public defenders who told the victim how much “ben” they had to pay the victim.
Sometimes call center operators call back multiple times to ask for more money, making allegations including the loss of a baby in a car accident, Department of Justice officials said. Money provided a luxurious lifestyle for call centre operators.
Castanos Garcia spent money on “upgrades to home and luxury purchases,” including boats, court documents say. Photos included in the Federal Affidavit Show show Castanos Garcia sitting in a hot tub on a yacht.
Growth Scheme
The Massachusetts grandparent fraud case, which includes at least 50 victims, is the latest in growing elderly fraud. FBI officials announced in June that seniors across the United States reported nearly $4.89 billion in losses due to fraud schemes, including grandparent fraud.
According to the FBI, this total represents a 43% increase in losses from 2023.
According to data from the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center, there were 147,127 fraud complaints in 2024, an increase of 46% from 2024, the FBI said.
Among the recent plans, the Federal Jury indicted a Dominican Republic man in March in connection with a plan to fraudulent five people for $50,000, USA Today previously reported. Luis Alfonso Bysono Rodriguez, a Caribbean citizen of Cleveland, played every part of the scam, from openers to runners. He pleaded not guilty in July.
“Fraud Elders are growing issues and shameful crimes,” said Kimberly Milka, a special representative in charge of the FBI’s Boston division, in a release on Fraud Elders. “It not only robs the already vulnerable population from their sense of security, it leaves them with catastrophic economic losses.”
Elderly people are often targeted because they are often seen as more trusting and less likely to report it as fraud, federal officials said.
People can report elder fraud scams by emailing usama.victimassistance@usdoj.gov, calling 1-800-call-fbi (1-800-225-5324), or by sending an email online at the FBI’s IC3 Elder Fraud complaint Center Center.
