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Oscar Manuel Castanos Garcia, Elder Fraud, Massachusetts 2024
BOSTON – Four Dominican nationals have been extradited to the United States for their alleged roles in connection with a transnational ‘call center’ operation in the Dominican Republic that tricked hundreds of elderly victims in the United States into believing that their grandchildren or other close family members were in trouble and needed money.
Oscar Manuel Castanos Garcia, 33; Joel Jose Cruz Rodriguez, a/k/a ‘Paflow,’ 33; Edward Jose Puello Garcia, 45; and Joel Francisco Mathilda Leon, 26, were arrested in August 2025 in the Dominican Republic and extradited on Sept. 30, 2025. They appeared in federal court in Boston on Oct. 1, 2025 and were detained pending trial.
The defendants were indicted by a federal grand jury in May 2024 with one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and wire fraud and one count of money laundering conspiracy. According to the charging documents, the defendants allegedly ran a sophisticated ‘call center’ operation in the Dominican Republic that tricked hundreds of elderly victims in the United States into believing that their grandchildren and other close family members were in trouble and needed money.
Once the defendants obtained the money, they allegedly laundered their illicit proceeds back to the Dominican Republic. Castanos Garcia allegedly oversaw call centers in the Dominican Republic, where he employed co-conspirators who spoke English and carried out what are commonly known as ‘grandparent scams.’ These scams would begin with an ‘Opener’ employee, who would call victims and pretend to be a grandchild who was in an accident.
Then, a ‘Closer’ would allegedly follow up with another call, pretending to be the grandchild’s attorney, asking for a sum of money to pay for the grandchild’s attorney’s fees. Castanos Garcia allegedly ran these call center locations with the help of several managers, including Cruz Rodriguez and Puello Garcia, who allegedly supervised, instructed and paid the employees.
As alleged in the indictment, callers for Castanos Garcia’s call centers would instruct elderly victims to provide cash to ‘runners’ in the United States, including Joel Francisco Mathilda Leon. Most often, the callers would instruct victims to give the packages with cash to rideshare drivers who were ordered to the victim’s house by a runner. The runners would then allegedly have the unsuspecting rideshare drivers deliver the packages to the runners at nearby locations.
In some cases, the callers would allegedly direct the victims to ship packages of cash to specified addresses via mail or commercial carriers. Often times, the call center would allegedly call victims again and ask for additional funds for their grandchildren, sometimes two or three additional times. For example, callers would allegedly claim that there had been a ‘mix up’ or that a ‘pregnant women’s baby was lost in the crash.’
At times, co-conspirators would allegedly order unwitting rideshare drivers to drive the elderly victims to the bank to withdraw additional funds. It is further alleged that, at the direction of Castanos Garcia’s and others, the runners would engage in financial transactions with the victims’ money, including depositing cash into bank accounts and delivering it to co-conspirators in New York and elsewhere.
Members of the public who believe they may be victims of this case, or other elder fraud scams, should contact USAMA.VictimAssistance@usdoj.gov or call 1-800-CALL-FBI (1-800-225-5324). Suspected fraud can also be reported on the FBI’s IC3 Elder Fraud Complaint Center.
Key Facts
- State: Massachusetts
- Category: Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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