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January 27, 2020

Man Pleads Guilty to Conspiracy to Commit Wire Fraud in Connection With an International Impersonation Scheme Targeting U.S. Victims

On November 26, 2019, in the Eastern District of New York, Jamal Zafar pled guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Zafar and coconspirators had previously been indicted on charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering in connection with an impersonation and Internet retail scheme directed at thousands of individuals across the United States.

According to the court documents, as part of the scheme, 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 that 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, Zafar 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 defendant 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.

Zafar consented to the entry of a forfeiture money judgement in the amount of $232,362 and the forfeiture of other property involved in the defendant's violation.

Zafar could face a maximum statutory sentence of 20 years' imprisonment.

    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; E.D.N.Y Criminal Cause For Guilty Plea filed Nov. 26, 2019; E.D.N.Y Preliminary Order of Forfeiture filed Dec. 9, 2019; and E.D.N.Y Order of Referral filed Nov. 26, 2019.