Ajay Kumar, 24, of Los Angeles, California, pleaded guilty on July 28 to Conspiracy to Commit Money Laundering in connection with a scheme that defrauded elderly victims across the United States. In December 2024, Kumar attempted to pick up approximately $500,000 in gold bullion from a victim in Arizona as part of the conspiracy. Sentencing is scheduled for October 8, 2026, before United States District Judge John J. Tuchi.
According to his plea agreement, Kumar and his co-conspirators contacted victims posing as government employees, falsely claiming their accounts had been compromised. The callers instructed victims to move funds to government accounts for safekeeping. In some instances, the conspirators maintained contact with victims for weeks, persuading them to withdraw cash or purchase gold, which individuals posing as government agents then collected. Kumar admitted to traveling throughout the United States to gather cash and gold from victims and deliver it to other conspirators involved in the scheme.
A conviction for Conspiracy to Commit Money Laundering carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $500,000 fine. The FBI’s Phoenix Division investigated the case, with Assistant U.S. Attorney Adriana Genco of the District of Arizona handling the prosecution.
The government warned that phantom hacker scams and government impersonation schemes increasingly target elderly victims. “The government will never call individuals to instruct them to transfer funds to the government. The government will never instruct a person to transfer assets into gold bullion. The government will never instruct a person to deliver funds to a ‘courier’ who comes to the person’s residence,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office statement.
Victims of elder fraud can report crimes to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center at ic3.gov or call the National Elder Fraud Hotline at 833-FRAUD-11 (833-372-8311), available Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. eastern time with services in English, Spanish, and other languages.
