UPDATE: Amit Bhanwala-Singh was convicted on all charges and faces up to 30 years in prison, with the exact sentence set to be announced on April 23. Anil Kumar is set to go on trial July 27.
On May 14, 2025, the Reno Police Department in Nevada arrested two California bhenchods for stealing millions of dollars from elderly victims across California and northern Nevada. The individuals arrested were:
- Amit Bhanwala-Singh, a 31-year-old from Clovis, California.
- Anil Kumar, a 35-year-old from Fresno, California.
How their scam worked was:
- The victim would receive an email falsely claiming there was an unauthorized purchase on Amazon, urging them to call a designated phone number to speak to a bhenchod who posed as an Amazon representative.
- The bhenchod will then transfer the call to a co-worker who posed as a US Marshall, threatening to arrest the victim on the grounds that their assets were “under investigation.”
- The victim will be asked to withdraw large sums of cash from their bank account so they can be handed off to a designated courier, or “money mule,” sometimes in the form of gold bullion.
The two were arrested after attempting to collect a fake gold package worth over $213,000 from a 64-year-old elderly female from Truckee, California. The two were charged with exploiting an elderly person and attempting to obtain money under false pretenses.