On December 23, 2021, in the Eastern District of Virginia, Pradipsinh Dharmendrasinh Parmar, jointly with his coconspirators, was ordered to pay restitution to victims in the amount of $9,673,169.27. Parmar was previously sentenced for conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, and aggravated identity theft on September 20, 2021, after pleading guilty to the charges on February 22, 2021.
According to the court documents, beginning in or about May 2016, and continuing through October 2019, Parmar knowingly conspired to defraud victims of money both directly and through automated, previously recorded calls, commonly referred to as “robocalls.” These calls contained messages designed to create a sense of urgency with the call recipient, and included instructions the victim was to take. The messages typically told recipients that they had a serious legal problem, usually criminal in nature, and that if they did not act immediately in accordance with the demands of the callers, there would be drastic consequences, to include threats of arrest and/or significant financial penalties.
The conspiracy operated through foreign call centers located primarily in India and disproportionately victimized elderly Americans. The conspirators would falsely claim to be acting on behalf of a Federal Government agency, such as the Internal Revenue Service, regarding potential tax penalties. Victims were persuaded or coerced to send packages of cash, preloaded payment cards, and/or wire funds to pay tax bills. To conceal the international origin of the calls, the conspirators established multiple cells within the United States, which victims were directed to send cash payments.
According to a Department of Justice press release dated February 22, 2021, as part of his guilty plea, Parmar admitted that over a two-year period from March 2017 to April 2019, he traveled to 30 States and collected at least 4,358 wire transfers sent by victims via Western Union, MoneyGram, and Walmart with losses totaling at least $4,312,585. Parmar also received and attempted to receive at least 91 packages of bulk cash sent by victims from several States within the United States via FedEx, United Parcel Service, or the United States Postal Service totaling at least $1,593,591. Parmar transferred the majority of the money he collected to coconspirators by depositing the funds into bank accounts at various financial institutions or giving it directly to various informal money transfer services, known as Hawalas. For his participation in this conspiracy, Parmar retained a portion of the funds, approximately eight percent of each money transfer and two percent to seven percent of each cash shipment.
Parmar used counterfeit identification documents bearing his photograph alongside fictitious and stolen identities to receive money transfers. Parmar admitted that he received at least 549 counterfeit identification documents that he used to receive and collect victim cash shipments and money transfers.
In addition to $9,673,169.27 in restitution, Parmar received 14 years’ imprisonment, three years’ supervised release, and was ordered to pay a $200 assessment fee.
Source: The facts in this case narrative come from the following publicly available documents: E.D. Va., Plea Agr., filed February 22, 2021; E.D. Va., Stat. of Fact, filed February 22, 2021; Department of Justice, Press Release, published February 22, 2021; E.D. Va., Am. J., filed September 28, 2021; and E.D. Va., Restitution Order, filed December 23, 2021.