On September 25, 2025, the Lee County Sheriff’s Office arrested 19-year-old Avinash Chandreshbhai Patel for serving as a money mule for a common tech support scam, where:
- The scammers will call their victims under the guise of Microsoft employees to falsely claim that their computer was locked.
- In order to “unlock” their computer, the victim will be asked to withdraw $25,000 from their bank account and hand it off to a designated courier or money mule, who will pose as an agent with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS)
- Once the money is received, the scammers will attempt to collect more money from their victim.
Patel was arrested on charges of obtaining property by false pretense and felony conspiracy, but has since been released on a $75,000 secured bond. Additional charges are pending.