DOUGLAS COUNTY, Colo. — A person has been sentenced to 6 years in jail for stealing greater than $126,000 from a Highlands Ranch lady by a rip-off that satisfied her to buy gold bars.
Investigators say the rip-off started in July 2023 when Charlotte Noble, 80, obtained a pop-up message on her pc warning her of a virus.
After calling the telephone quantity offered, she spoke with a person claiming to be a federal agent. The person instructed her that her checking account was compromised and satisfied her to buy two gold bars, valued at greater than $63,000 every.
The twenty third Judicial District Lawyer’s Workplace mentioned Noble later handed over the 2 gold bars to Sagar Patel, 27, who was pretending to be an secret agent. Throughout the handoff, Noble recorded Patel’s license plate workplace and turned it over to the Douglas County Sheriff’s Workplace, resulting in his arrest.
Along with this case in Colorado, Patel is underneath investigation for related crimes in Delaware and New York.
“He’s a heartless jerk who would have continued doing this over and again and again,” mentioned twenty third Judicial District Lawyer George Brauchler.
At his sentencing listening to Friday, Patel’s protection fought for a shorter sentence of two years behind bars.
“Mr. Patel basically has no felony historical past,” Patel’s protection lawyer mentioned.
Patel was convicted of felony theft. On Friday, Choose Victoria Klingensmith sentenced him to the utmost sentence of six years in jail. He was additionally ordered to pay practically $144,000 in restitution.
Patel instructed the courtroom throughout his sentencing listening to that he was sorry for what he did.
“I want I had [the] energy to return and repair that factor. I can not,” he mentioned.
Brauchler took the chance on Friday to remind individuals to not be afraid to talk up.
“Don’t be ashamed if you recognize somebody who’s been a sufferer of this. You probably have been a sufferer of this, come ahead,” Brauchler mentioned.
Patel is an undocumented immigrant. U.S. Immigration and Customs and Enforcement (ICE) has issued a detainer for him.
Denver
Denver legislation enforcement warns of AI-driven scams, gives academic workshop
As synthetic intelligence (AI) expertise advances, scammers are discovering new methods to use it, making fraud more durable to detect and extra convincing than ever.
The Denver Police Division provided these tricks to hold your self protected from scams:
- Block undesirable calls or textual content messages
- Don’t give private or monetary data over the telephone or pc until you initiated the communication with an entity you recognize and belief
- Decelerate. Don’t give in to strain to behave instantly.
- Scammers wish to be paid in cryptocurrency, reward card, or by peer-to-peer fee providers. By no means pay individuals you don’t know by these fee strategies
- Scammers use expertise to masks or spoof their phone numbers. Caller ID can not be relied upon
- Regulation enforcement won’t ever contact you and demand cash
For extra data on defend your self from falling sufferer to a rip-off, you may view on-line assets from the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, Denver District Lawyer’s Workplace, Denver Police Division, or Experian.
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