Ionia County woman scammed out of more than $40,000; two men charged
IONIA — Police arrested two Illinois men this week after an Easton Township woman was scammed out of over $40,000, according to a news release from the Ionia County Sheriff’s Office.
The men, Jainav Sanjaykumar Patel, 25, and Alonzo Lee Waheed Jr., 27, were arrested and arraigned on charges of conspiracy to commit fraud after they returned to the 72-year-old woman's home to collect money, deputies said in a release.
The woman had already given over $40,000 to scammers after she was locked out of her computer tablet earlier this month.
The woman called a phone number displayed on the screen for "technical support." Deputies said the subject who answered claimed they were with the Federal Trade Commission.
The woman gave over $40,000 to people she believed were federal agents on May 9, they said.
"The 72-year-old victim was instructed that her money wasn’t safe in the banks, and that he (the scammer) would be sending federal agents to her home to pick up money that she had withdrawn from her bank and placed into a box," according to the release.
The woman received another call from the scammers a week later requesting more money for safekeeping.
A relative contacted law enforcement and police arrested the men in the woman's neighborhood. One subject told a deputy they were part of "a larger fraud ring who was being paid to pick up the boxes of money from victims of fraud," said the release.
Deputies said they are still investigating the incident in hopes of recovering money for other victims.
"Additional charges are likely, and the Sheriff’s Office is reviewing electronic data seized to identify other persons who were targeted in this scheme," they said.
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Contact Reporter Rachel Greco at rgreco@lsj.com. Follow her on X @GrecoatLSJ .
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Ionia County woman scammed out of more than $40,000; two men charged
