“The stories are truly heartbreaking,” said Foley, noting that sometimes the scammers allegedly convinced victims to repeatedly hand over more cash. “This was not a one-off scam.”
Foley said there were at least 400 victims scattered across the country, including about 50 in Massachusetts, and their average age was 84. Members of the ring are accused of stealing more than $5 million between May 2022 and April 2024 as part of the scheme.
In one instance in February 2023, the indictment alleges, a caller convinced an elderly woman in Agawam that he was her grandson, had been in a car accident in Pennsylvania, and needed $13,800 cash for bail.
After collecting the money, a member of the ring posing as a lawyer told the woman her grandson needed $10,000 more “because the other person involved in the accident had been pregnant, her baby had died and her grandson was being charged with manslaughter,” the indictment alleges.
The ring used unsuspecting ride-hail drivers to pick up money from victims or drive them to a bank to withdraw cash, according to the indictment. Then, the money was delivered to “runners” who allegedly worked for the ring.
The scheme began to unravel when Uber’s Global Security and Investigations team alerted the FBI that its drivers were allegedly being used by suspected scammers, according to officials.
After two years of investigation, the FBI and its partners in the Dominican Republic shut down the sophisticated call center in Santiago that was “a front for massive fraud,” said Ted Docks, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Boston office.
“What the accused did in targeting our seniors was calculated, cold-hearted, and cruel,” Docks said. “They shamelessly took advantage of their love and devotion to bilk them out of their hard-earned money.”
The superseding indictment charges 13 people with money laundering conspiracy, and 12 of them with an additional charge of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud. The indictment adds charges and defendants to a previous indictment filed a year ago.
As of early Monday afternoon, nine of the 13 people charged were in custody, including the accused ringleader, Oscar Manuel Castanos Garcia, 33, who was arrested in the Dominican Republic. Authorities said they are seeking his extradition to Boston to face charges.
One of the people charged, Luis German Santos Burgos, 32, of Dorchester and the Dominican Republic, pleaded guilty last month to mail and wire fraud conspiracy and is awaiting sentencing.
The other defendants charged in the case reside in the Dominican Republic, New York City, Florida, California, Missouri, and New Jersey.
An affidavit filed in court alleges that call center operators in the Dominican Republic used commercial telemarketing software to organize lists of elderly victims and track calls. Lists of elderly victims were obtained on the dark web. Calls were made to appear as if they originated in the United States.
Call center managers provided employees with “scripts” to read when appealing to victims, according to the affidavit.
A standard script read that the caller was the victim’s oldest grandson, who was in another state for a funeral. He had two glasses of wine during a farewell toast for his friend at a restaurant, then got into a car accident with a woman who ran a red light. He failed a breathalyzer, was in jail, and was using his one call to reach out to his grandmother.
“Please promise that you will keep this between us until I get out; I’m ashamed about this. Okay?” the script read, according to court filings. The script continued saying his public defender told him he could get out today if he posted bail.
“I have money in my account, but I cannot get to it. Please … need help with my bail. I promise that I will make it up to you when I get out. I love you.”
Runners allegedly deposited cash from grandparent scams into bank accounts, from which the money was wired to the Dominican Republic.
One alleged member of the ring texted a photo of himself to the alleged ringleader holding stacks of cash he had just delivered, totaling more than $189,000, according to court filings.
Shelley Murphy can be reached at shelley.murphy@globe.com. Follow her @shelleymurph.
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