An Illinois man accused of allegedly scheming to steal from the savings and retirement accounts of elderly victims has been charged in federal court with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and two counts of wire fraud.
Abdul Mohammed, 31, of Des Plaines, Illinois, allegedly participated in a scheme in which conspirators contacted elderly victims and posed as government agents.
The alleged scam involved tricking the seniors into believing their accounts had been compromised and asking them to convert their savings and retirement accounts to cash or gold bars and give them to law enforcement for protection.
Victims were contacted by someone identifying himself as “Agent Roy” and were instructed to withdraw funds — in one case $80,000 — from retirement accounts and exchange it for gold bars or the account would be frozen by the IRS.
A member of the conspiracy, acting as “Agent Roy,” met a victim in a Meijer parking lot in Westfield to collect the gold bars. Even after delivering the gold, the victim was led to believe their money was not safe and they needed to give the fake agents more money.
According to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office Southern District of Indiana, on Dec. 9, 2023, an unknown conspirator emailed an elderly victim a document with a purported FBI seal instructing them to withdraw funds. The release states that Mohammed later met the victim in the Westfield parking lot in an attempt to collect an additional $45,000 in cash.
“There is an outstanding warrant for the arrest of Abdul Mohammed… following a federal indictment alleging his involvement in a scheme to defraud elderly victims through false claims that federal law enforcement agencies were seeking to keep their money safe,” stated Zachary A. Myers, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana. “We encourage Mr. Mohammed to contact the FBI immediately to arrange for his safe surrender to answer the charges against him.”
If convicted, Mohammed faces 60 years in federal prison.
Anyone with information on Mohammed’s whereabouts is asked to contact the FBI at 317-595-4000 or FBI.gov/tips.
