Sharvil Patel, IRS Impersonation Scam, Florida 2019
Tampa, FL - A 23-year-old Indian national has been sentenced to seven years and six months in federal prison for his role in an India-based call center scam that impersonated IRS officers and extorted money from U.S. residents.
Sharvil Patel, of Tampa, pleaded guilty on February 6, 2019, and was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Virginia Hernandez Covington.
According to court documents, from 2014 through at least 2016, Patel conspired with U.S.-based co-conspirators and India-based call centers to extort money from U.S. residents by impersonating IRS officers and misleading victims to believe that they owed money to the IRS and would be arrested and fined if they did not pay their alleged back taxes immediately.
The conspirators collected the fraud proceeds by withdrawing cash from prepaid cards purchased and funded by victims, hiring runners to retrieve money wired by the victims, or hiring runners to open bank accounts into which victims deposited fraud proceeds.
Four others have previously pleaded guilty for their roles in the scheme, including Alejandro Juarez, who was sentenced to 15 months in federal prison, Nishitkumar Patel, who was sentenced to 8 years and 9 months in federal prison, Hemalkumar Shah, who was sentenced to 8 years and 6 months in federal prison, and Brenda Dozier, who was sentenced to 21 months in federal prison.
As part of his sentence, the court also entered a money judgment of $80,000 against Patel.
The case was investigated by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, the Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations, the Tampa Police Department, and the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Rachel K. Jones.
Sharvil Patel's exact criminal charges were conspiracy to commit wire fraud. The crime took place in Tampa, Florida, and Patel was sentenced on April 10, 2019. The sentence was seven years and six months in federal prison, with a money judgment of $80,000.
Key Facts
- State: Florida
- Category: Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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