Shelby Township couple scammed out of $50K by 'Geek Squad' impersonator claiming child porn on computer

SHELBY TWP, Mich. (FOX 2) - In Shelby Township, an elderly couple who fell victim to a "Geek Squad" imposter scam lost $50,000, but their subsequent cooperation with police led to the arrest of a suspect. The alleged scammer, 25-year-old Vedantkumar Patel, was apprehended after attempting to extort an additional $100,000 from the couple, with police utilizing a license plate reader system to track him.

What we know:

An elderly couple in Shelby Township received a fake email on April 5, purporting to be from Geek Squad, stating there were unauthorized charges on their account. 

The email, which appeared convincing, claimed child pornography charges were found and instructed the couple to pay someone posing as a Best Buy Geek Squad representative to have them removed. 

The couple were told to withdraw $50,000 and meet a company representative in a parking lot to drop off the money, which they did. The person they met, police said, was 25-year-old Vedantkumar Patel.

What they're saying:

Authorities said scams like this are only increasing.

Shelby Township Sgt. Kevin Bailey said the email was very convincing.

"I did see the email. It does look like it does come from that company." he said. "With technology and AI they are able to mimic phone numbers, email addresses . These are on the rise."

By the time law enforcement gets involved, it's usually too late.

"It's hard to actually get a suspect so on this case it was amazing that our detectives were able to do this much work to get someone in custody," he said. "When they say we need the money right now, definitely think this probably a scam."

The scammer wasn't happy with the first drop. Bailey said they were asked for even more money.

Warning issued for toll road scam using Michigan.gov link, image mimicking MDOT website

"The person they were communicating with reached out to them and wanted 100 thousand dollars now. That’s when they decided to go to police," Bailey said.

When they were told they had to pay $100,000, they called the cops.

"He rented a vehicle, came up to Shelby Township from Toledo, Ohio. Then our detectives, once they were made aware of this – and how the drop off happened – they used the flock system and got a license plate, worked back that way to find out who ultimately rented the vehicle and got a suspect from there," Bailey said.

Flock Safety is a crime-fighting tool that is used in over 100 Michigan communities, according to flocksafety.com. 

Shelby township is one of those communities and reached out to Toledo Police, who arrested Patel.

What we don't know:

According to police, Patel is in the U.S. on a student visa from India, but it's not known if he's the only one involved.

"It's hard to tell right now. The investigators tried to talk to him and he wasn’t wanting to talk to our investigators at this time," Bailey said.

The original $50,000 is gone and isn't likely to be recovered.

"He most likely has sent that $50,000 over to family members or someone else in India, so unfortunately, that $50,000 is gone."

What's next:

Patel has been charged in Macomb County. He is also currently under investigation by the FBI in connection with two other scams targeting elderly individuals and is being held on a detainer by ICE. 

Investigators attempted to speak with Patel, but he was unwilling to cooperate at this time, making it difficult to determine if he was working alone or if others are involved.

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