An Indian-origin man from Gujarat has been sentenced to more than nine years in a US federal prison for his role in a scam that targeted elderly Americans and caused millions of dollars in losses.
Shreyas Baldevbhai Chaudhary was sentenced by a US District Court in Cleveland to 110 months in prison. He was also ordered to pay $5.16 million in restitution. His associate, Trusha Chaudhary, received five years of probation and was ordered to pay $343,641.
The case came to light after an elderly man in Salem, Massachusetts, encountered a fake Microsoft security alert in October 2023. After calling the number displayed in the pop-up, he was told that his identity had been compromised and was persuaded to buy $11,000 worth of gift cards.
The fraudsters then convinced him to withdraw another $61,000 and later $50,000 from his bank account. The bank became suspicious and alerted the FBI, leading investigators to the wider operation.
A courier, Nitinkumar Raval, was arrested while collecting money from a victim. During questioning, investigators learned that he was acting on instructions from someone known as “Al Capone.” Authorities later identified the alias as Chaudhary, who prosecutors said coordinated couriers across the US to collect cash and other valuables from victims.
The operation reportedly ran from December 2022 to December 2023. Raval was sentenced last December to between 19 and 41 months in federal prison and ordered to pay $224,902 in restitution.
In court, Chaudhary’s attorney sought a lighter sentence, pointing to his difficult childhood in rural Gujarat. According to the filing, he grew up in extreme poverty, had limited access to water, lived in poor housing and slept on a mattress on the floor. He left school after the 10th grade and reportedly earned just $10.49 a month in his first job.
His background was presented as a factor behind his life choices, but the court ultimately imposed a nine-year-plus prison sentence for his role in the large-scale financial fraud.
