On April 8, 2026, the Llano County Sheriff’s Office in Texas, in a coordinated operation ran jointly with the Texas Attorney General’s Office, arrested Indian national Dhyey Rakeshkumar Patel on two counts of money laundering tied to a Social Security scam operation, where:
- The scammers will call their victims under the false personation of federal agents, threatening to arrest the victim due to an ongoing “investigation.”
- To avoid being “arrested,” the victims will be asked to withdraw $25,000 from their bank accounts and “secure” them by depositing them at a Bitcoin ATM.
- Once the money is collected, the victim will be asked to “liquidate” their savings by purchasing $335,000 in gold bars and handing them off to a designated courier or money mule.
Patel faces up to 22 years in prison.