Fraudsters are fleecing Americans like never before

Scammers targeting U.S. victims have perfected their methods. They pretend to be relatives in distress, lawyers about to file lawsuits, salespeople with incredible offers, or feared immigration officers. They’ve gone so far as to open call centers, develop strategies, write scripts, hire English-speaking operators, and demand ever-increasing results from them. They also use artificial intelligence and have accomplices who collect and send money. Many have achieved their goals of defrauding people with almost business-like precision.

This new modus operandi is exposed in various criminal cases currently in U.S. federal courts. The fraudsters have shown no mercy, not even in emptying the bank account of a Holocaust survivor’s widow, nor in falsely warning undocumented immigrants that agents from the dreaded Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) were about to conduct a raid outside their homes.

Unlike other crimes that experience periods of decline, fraud doesn’t ever slow down or falter. Year after year, FBI statistics show an upward trend. From 49,000 reports and losses of nearly $18 million recorded in 2001, two all-time records were reached in 2025: one million complaints and a total of $20.8 billion in losses.

The scam targeting grandparents

A young man poses smiling for the camera, showing off his trophy: $189,250 in cash. Authorities say that this stack of bills was obtained by a sophisticated gang that defrauded more than 400 elderly people in the United States. They called them from several clandestine call centers set up in houses in Santiago de los Caballeros and Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic. The average age of their victims was 84.

This was one of the scripts they read to them: “Hi, Grandpa. It’s me, your grandson… I came to a friend’s funeral… We went to a restaurant… On the way out, a driver ran a red light and I hit her car.” They said they needed money to cover supposed medical and legal expenses. The next call was from someone pretending to be a lawyer. The grandparents would send cash by courier or hand it over to unsuspecting Lyft drivers.

The FBI alleges that these criminals operated in specific regions to facilitate the work of the drug mules. The money was sent through a bank account linked to a purported e-cigarette distributor. The recipient was the group’s leader, Óscar Manuel Castaños García, who lived a life of luxury in the Dominican Republic. With the more than five million dollars he pocketed, he made improvements to his residence and bought a speedboat.

The cunning telephone operators, known as “openers,” spoke perfect English. They kept a small percentage of the illicit profits. Telemarketing software allowed them to compile lists of potential victims, whom they called “fresh meat,” and closely monitor the calls they made. This database came from the dark web. They also used Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), a technology that makes calls using the internet and fake local phone numbers. The call centers had “managers,” and their staff operated from workstations equipped with phones and high-tech devices. They recorded the daily earnings on a whiteboard.

More than 13 members of this criminal group have been charged with fraud. Castaños García was arrested by Dominican police in August 2025 and extradited the following month. In a federal court in Massachusetts, he was charged with conspiracy to commit mail fraud and money laundering. He faces up to 40 years in prison.

Fake English courses

Carla Magaly Alcedo Mendoza’s fraud targeted the Hispanic immigrant community in the United States. This Peruvian woman was arrested in her country on charges of running several fake call centers.

They pretended to be representatives of “universities,” “help centers,” and “government agencies.” They told the victims they had been selected to receive financial assistance to purchase English courses and that they only had to pay for shipping the learning materials. The worst was yet to come. They fabricated storage debts and lawsuits for “breach of contract.” The extortion was carried out by supposed lawyers, prosecutors, and officials. They warned the victims that they would be jailed, have their credit history ruined, or even be reported to ICE for deportation.

Hundreds of immigrants fell into the trap. The Alcedo Mendoza gang alone, which operated from 2013 to 2018, obtained more than $15 million, according to court documents.

She was recaptured in March 2025 in Peru and extradited to Florida days later. She had first been arrested in 2023, but failed to show up for her initial court appearance after being released on parole. In a Miami federal court, she was charged with conspiracy, mail fraud, wire fraud, and extortion.

Multiple scammers who operated call centers in Peru have used the same method. Several of Alcedo Mendoza’s accomplices and “competitors” have been extradited from Peru over the years to face charges of mail fraud and extortion. In some cases, accomplices have impersonated ICE agents, taking advantage of the country’s political climate.

A scam that went viral on YouTube

The scam was exposed by YouTubers who debunk fraud. They cooperated with authorities in an investigation that resulted in criminal charges against 28 people. Content creators from the channels Scammer Payback and Trilogy Media posed as victims and couriers to confront money mules.

It all started with a friendly phone call. The scammers pretended to be tech support agents or bank employees. They gained the victims’ trust and obtained remote access to their computers to show them a fake statement. They made them believe they had received an erroneous refund of thousands of dollars and pressured them to return it as soon as possible, in cash and sent by courier.

“Let me speak to my department head and see how we can fix this. Because you’re an honest woman, you received $5,000 instead of $500,” one of the telephone operators can be heard saying in one of the YouTube videos.

The first phase of the strategy devised by Scammer Payback and Trilogy Media involved contacting these fraudsters to make them believe they had fallen for the scam, while simultaneously documenting their modus operandi. Authorities assert that Chinese scammers and call center operators in India collaborated in this scheme.

Six videos from Scammer Payback and Trilogy Media are now part of the evidence in this court case filed in a federal court in San Diego, California. To date, at least 25 members of this gang have been arrested. “Not all heroes wear capes. Some have YouTube channels,” said U.S. Attorney Adam Gordon in a statement.

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