An Indian undocumented immigrant was sentenced to five years behind bars and required to pay over $104,000 in restitution due to wire fraud, as announced by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Mississippi on Monday.
The office reported that 52-year-old Nooruddin Bhai Nasruddin conspired with accomplices to deceive victims by impersonating a federal agent.
According to the U.S. attorneys, the perpetrators informed victims that their bank accounts or Social Security numbers had been compromised, urging them to withdraw cash, which Nasruddin then collected using a code supplied by the callers.
In May 2024, a victim from North Carolina was notified that their Ticketmaster account had been breached, as stated by the office.
A co-conspirator falsely claimed that government officials operated a Bitcoin machine and instructed the victim to deposit money into it, leading the funds directly to the fraudsters.
The caller then directed the victim to withdraw any remaining cash and provide it, along with a code, to Nasruddin.
In August 2024, a Mississippi victim was approached by a co-conspirator pretending to be a Federal Trade Commission representative.
The victim was advised to take out cash and send a photo of it before handing it over to an alleged federal agent.
When Nasruddin came to collect the money, he was apprehended by the Lafayette County Sheriff’s Department, confirmed the U.S. attorney’s office.
“The United States will never instruct its citizens over the phone to withdraw their hard-earned money and send it to the government in cryptocurrency,” stated U.S. Attorney Clay Joyner.
“Too many scammers exploit the trust Americans place in their government and its agencies.”