Two Indian-Americans plead guilty to debit card extortion scam

Two Indian-Americans today pleaded guilty to charges of conspiring to extort their victims to load prepaid debit cards with funds that were stolen as part of a scam running into more than USD 5.8 million.
Alpeshkumar Patel, 31, and Vijaykumar Patel, 40, pleaded guilty before a US District Judge in New Jersey to the charges of conspiracy to commit the wire fraud.
The charge is punishable by a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and USD 250,000 fine, or twice the gross gain or loss from the offence.
The duo -- who are not related -- admitted that from September 2013 to March 2014, they were part of a conspiracy to steal money using reloadable debit cards, said the court documents.

The two would first purchase reloadable Green Dot Cards, and register them in names other than theirs. Then, they would contact their potential victims by phone and used threats or deceit to induce them to put money on MoneyPak cards, which are used along with assigned PIN codes to add funds to Green Dot Cards.
Alpeshkumar Patel and Vijaykumar Patel admitted that they obtained the Green Dot Cards and used them to purchase money orders.

Afterwards, they deposited the funds into bank accounts associated with the scheme, the Department of Justice said.
Phone numbers and IP addresses connected with the conspiracy were tied to approximately 2,500 Green Dot Cards that were funded in excess of USD 5.8 million.

Sentencing has been scheduled for January 15, 2015.