A Bangladeshi national has admitted guilt in a scheme that used false customer-service calls, fake refunds, and remote access to bilk three elderly victims out of tens of thousands of dollars, and sentencing is set for November 30, 2026.
A federal criminal case names Iftekhar Latif Nieon, 24, as having pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud after an investigation uncovered coordinated efforts to defraud older adults. U.S. Attorney Michael DiGiacomo announced the plea, which was entered before Chief U.S. District Judge Elizabeth A. Wolford. The statute for conspiracy to commit wire fraud carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.
The scheme unfolded in 2025 and targeted at least three victims, each approached with social-engineering techniques designed to create urgency and trust. Co-conspirators obtained account and card information, placed unauthorized charges, and then steered victims into contacting a phone number the fraudsters controlled. Once the victims engaged, the callers impersonated customer-service personnel to manipulate account activity and secure large cash withdrawals made under false pretenses.
In March 2025, a 68-year-old woman in the Western District of New York noticed an unauthorized credit-card charge for “virus protection software” and called what she believed was the software company. Co-conspirators answered and fraudulently represented that they were “representatives” of the “virus protection software company,” instructing her to allow remote access so they could process a refund. Instead of issuing a refund, a co-conspirator moved $20,000 from her savings to her checking account and then told her to “return” $19,500 in cash.
The fraudsters structured that transfer to look like an accidental deposit, then pressured the woman into withdrawing the cash and meeting Nieon at a specified location to hand it over. The victim complied, unaware that the supposed refund was staged and that the money would be taken. That pattern of creating a fake deposit followed by a demand for cash repeated across the other reported incidents in the case.
In April 2025, a 73-year-old man in the same federal district received an email falsely claiming his “Geek Squad subscription” would renew and charge him $329.99 unless he called a provided number. When he did, a caller claiming to be a “Geek Squad supervisor” promised a $440 refund and then said $30,000 had been accidentally refunded to his account. The victim saw a “pending” $30,000 deposit, was told to return $28,000, withdrew the cash, and turned it over to Nieon and an associate at an arranged meeting point.
The next day the 73-year-old checked his accounts and discovered the $30,000 deposit had never cleared, revealing the transaction was a ruse designed to produce cash quickly. That same month, an 82-year-old man in Ohio received a call from someone falsely identifying themselves as a PayPal “representative,” telling him there was an “error” in his account. He was instructed to withdraw $15,000 and hand it to Nieon; after protesting, the man met Nieon and gave him $14,500.
The criminal case is being handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Meghan K. McGurire, and it reflects a multiagency investigation. The Federal Bureau of Investigation, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge Allen D. Davis, II, and the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation New York, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge Harry T. Chavis, Jr., assisted in uncovering the scheme. The New York State Police, under the direction of Major Kevin Sucher, and the Pepper Pike, Ohio Police Department, under the direction of Chief Karl Dietz, also took part in the probe.
Nieon’s guilty plea follows evidence linking him to in-person collections after the fraudsters manufactured the appearance of refunds or accidental deposits. Prosecutors say the conspirators used a mix of fraudulent phone calls, email lures, and remote access to create the illusion of legitimate customer-service interactions, then converted those illusions into large cash withdrawals handed over in public meeting places.
Sentencing is scheduled for November 30, 2026, at 9:30 AM before Judge Wolford, when the court will consider the full scope of the offenses and any applicable federal sentencing guidelines. The matter remains an example of how coordinated social-engineering fraud can convince vulnerable people to part with life savings under the guise of returning money they never actually received.
