Indian American Man Sentenced to Over 3 Years in Federal Prison for $1.5 Million Identity Theft Scheme

An Indian American man has been sentenced to 46 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to the possession of false identity documents and operating an unlicensed money transfer business. Vimalkumar Trivedi, 41, of Plainfield, Indiana “defrauded multiple victims, including some elderly individuals, into sending cash to various locations,” according to a Department of Justice press release. 

From April 2017 through April 1, 2021, Trivedi and his co-conspirators in the U.S. and India pretended to be federal law enforcement agents. They told the victims  “their Social Security numbers had been found in connection with criminal activity, often narcotics trafficking,” and they would be arrested if they did not immediately pay, the DOJ said. “The victims would then withdraw large sums of cash and mail it to fictitious individuals.”

Trivedi would track those packages and pick them up at multiple FedEx locations. He would use a false identification document for each transaction. “In total, he possessed at least 53 false identification documents, each with his picture but containing different identifying information,” the DOJ said. He used these false identification documents to pick up “at least 122 packages containing $901,124 in cash proceeds of the fraud,” the DOJ said. “He kept $60,000 stolen from victims for his own use and forwarded the remainder to his associates.”

According to the DOJ, “law enforcement agents have identified and confirmed approximately 17 victims, identified approximately 50 other suspected victims, and identified approximately $1.5 million in losses to the victims.” 

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In addition to the sentence, Trivedi  is ordered to be supervised by the U.S. Probation Office for three years following his release from federal prison.