On December 12, 2019, in the Eastern District of New York, Armughanul Asar pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, in connection with an impersonation and Internet retail scheme directed at thousands of individuals across the United States.

According to court documents, telemarketing call centers in India placed calls to U.S. victims seeking to defraud them of money by various fraudulent scenarios. Among the fraudulent scenarios was a scam wherein callers contacted the victims and falsely claimed to be agents of U.S. Government agencies, including the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The callers falsely claimed they were contacting the victims to inform them that they owed the U.S. Government a specified amount of money, and if the victims did not immediately remit payment to the individuals or entities identified by the callers, they would be arrested.

Between January 2018 and September 2018, Asar and others opened bank accounts in the names of various inactive and shell corporations for the purpose of receiving fraud proceeds. Shortly after receiving the wire transfer payments that the victims sent, the defendants and others withdrew and directed shell company owners to withdraw the fraudulently obtained victims' funds and then distributed the money via cashier's checks and wire transfers to other bank accounts. The defendant, together with others, received approximately $2.3 million from the victims as a result of the fraud scheme.

If convicted, Asar could face criminal forfeiture and a maximum penalty of 20 years' imprisonment. Sentencing in this matter is scheduled for July 7, 2020.

Source:  The facts in this case narrative come from the following publicly available documents: E.D.N.Y. Indict. filed Aug. 22, 2019; E.D.N.Y. DOJ Press Release dated Aug. 26, 2019; and E.D.N.Y. Change of Plea Hearing filed Dec. 12, 2019.