On February 10, 2025, the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office in Reno, Nevada arrested Mohjid Singh and Habri Harmal for stealing over $49,000 from elderly locals through a Social Security scam, where:
- The scammers will make and/or answer calls under the guise of agents with Amazon’s “fraud department” to deceive their victims into thinking their accounts were used for fraudulent activity.
- The scammer will transfer the call to a co-worker who will pose as an officer with the United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and threaten to arrest the victim because they were “under investigation” for money laundering, identity theft and smuggling drugs through the US-Mexico border in Eagle Pass, Texas.
- The victims will be asked to withdraw almost all of the funds out of their bank accounts and hand them off to a money mule.
The two have been charged with:
- Theft, value $3,500 or greater - Elderly Victim
- Exploiting an older or vulnerable person, $5,000 or greater
- Two counts of conspiring to abuse, exploit or isolate an older or vulnerable person.