An unemployed student from Illinois working as part of a multistate crime ring was able to scam an elderly Brunswick couple out of $1 million, according to a federal criminal complaint.
Harmish Patel was charged with conspiracy to commit interstate transportation of property taken by fraud, according to the complaint filed in U.S. District Court on Monday. It was not immediately clear if Patel had an attorney on Tuesday; a warrant has been issued for his arrest.
Federal authorities say the couple was not the only victim of the scam, which followed a similar pattern used in other scams to take advantage of elderly residents.
The couple, identified only by their initials, received an email in December 2023 that they believed was from PayPal. The email said their account would be charged $465.88 within 24 hours. It also contained two phone numbers if they wanted to challenge or cancel the charge.
The couple called and spoke with someone who claimed to be an employee of Microsoft, who then supposedly transferred them to a woman claiming to be an assistant director with the Federal Trade Commission.
