An elder fraud ring based in the Dominican Republic is busted and 13 people face charges for their alleged roles.
U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts, Leah Foley, called it a "sophisticated criminal enterprise" that succeeded in stealing five-million-dollars by tricking people, at least 50 of them in Massachusetts, into handing over their life savings under false pretenses.
Foley said: "The defendants, led by defendant Oscar Manuel Castanos Garcia, ran a sophisticated “call center” operation in the Dominican Republic that tricked hundreds of elderly victims in the United States into believing that their grandchildren and other close family members were in trouble and needed money. Once the defendants obtained the money, they allegedly laundered their illicit proceeds back to the Dominican Republic."
Nine of the people charged are already in custody.
Four are still at large.
One person reportedly has already pleaded guilty.
(Photo: Massachusetts US Attorney's Office)