Federal prosecutors in Florida announced the conviction of a 22-year-old Indian national involved in a sweeping elder fraud conspiracy that siphoned nearly $8 million in cash and gold from pensioners across the United States. Atharva Shailesh Sathawane was found guilty by a federal jury in Gainesville on charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering, following an investigation that revealed a multistate operation targeting vulnerable elderly victims.
John P. Heekin, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Florida, said Sathawane acted as "a courier in an international fraud scheme." In a statement following the verdict, Heekin added, "This criminal alien will be held accountable for his role in the financial exploitation of several vulnerable, elderly victims. I am incredibly proud of the work by my office to pursue justice on behalf of the defrauded victims in this case, and we will see to it that fraudsters are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."
The scheme first unraveled when an elderly Gainesville resident suspected wrongdoing and alerted police. Local law enforcement set up a ruse to intercept the courier and arrested Sathawane as he attempted to collect additional gold from the victim's home. Investigators later searched his mobile device, which they said contained evidence of more than 30 transactions tied to the scam across numerous states.
Federal court filings described how Sathawane, who was in the United States unlawfully, retrieved cash and gold from victims and delivered them to unidentified individuals in parking lots. Authorities testified that some co-conspirators operated in India, coordinating transfers and providing instructions to couriers on U.S. soil. Many victims, prosecutors said, lost their entire life savings or suffered severe financial hardship.
The network relied on what investigators call a "phantom hacker" model. Scammers posed as customer service representatives from retailers or banks, telling victims their accounts had been compromised. From there, targets were transferred to a bogus federal law enforcement official who claimed to offer assistance but instead manipulated them into believing their savings were at risk of government seizure or criminal charges.
In several documented cases, victims were initially contacted by someone pretending to work for Amazon who warned of fraudulent purchases. They were then connected to an individual posing as a Federal Trade Commission employee who insisted the victim's identity had been stolen. The deception escalated when a third scammer, impersonating a Drug Enforcement Administration special agent, claimed the victim's account was tied to criminal activity and that fictitious arrest warrants had been issued.
Under pressure, victims liquidated retirement funds to produce cash or gold. In some instances, scammers instructed victims to wire money to metal dealers who shipped gold to the victims' homes, where couriers later retrieved it. To authenticate the exchange, victims were told to confirm a passcode-often the serial number from a dollar bill-before handing over the assets.
Prosecutors say the coordinated structure of the scheme, spanning multiple states and relying on impersonation of federal authorities, demonstrates the expanding sophistication of international fraud networks targeting U.S. seniors.
