New Delhi: The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has cracked open what investigators describe as a carefully scripted visa scam.
The US Department of Justice (DoJ) says 10 Indian nationals were arrested Friday (and two earlier) for allegedly staging armed robberies at liquor stores and fast-food restaurants across Massachusetts—not to steal, but to create ‘victims’.
According to authorities, the crimes were orchestrated from start to finish: Fake robbers, frightened clerks, and panicked calls to police—all designed to manufacture evidence of violent crime. The goal, prosecutors say, was to help store employees falsely claim crime victim status in immigration applications and secure US visas.
Investigators say the supposed ‘robbers’ and ‘victims’ were in on the act together, turning convenience stores into sets for mock crimes meant to game the American immigration system.
Apart from the 12 Indian nationals arrested and charged, one more Indian national, deported from the US, Dipikaben Patel, has also been charged by US prosecutors. All 12 arrested were living unlawfully in the US, the DoJ said in a statement.
They have been identified by the US authorities as Jitendrakumar Patel, Maheshkumar Patel, Sanjaykumar Patel, Rameshbhai Patel, Amitabahen Patel, Ronakkumar Patel, Sangitaben Patel, Minkesh Patel, Sonal Patel, Mitul Patel, Rambhai Patel and Balwinder Singh.
The FBI allegedly found that all these accused conspired with one Rambhai Patel (also illegal immigrant), the mastermind of the fraud, in at least six staged armed robberies carried out in March 2023, all to claim ‘victim’ on applications for a U non-immigration status visa (U Visa).
The DoJ explained that a U Visa is available to victims of certain crimes who have suffered mental or physical abuse and who have helped law enforcement in the investigation or prosecution of criminal activity.
As part of the conspiracy, the FBI further found, the robberies were scripted down to the last detail–the ‘robber’ would threaten store clerks or the owners with a firearm before taking cash from the register and fleeing; all this would be recorded on the store surveillance camera; after waiting five minutes, the store owners or clerks would alert the police and report the ‘crime’.
Over the course of the investigation since March 2023, the FBI has found that at least two such purported victims of the staged armed robberies submitted the U Visa application form, and one of these ‘victims’ paid $20,000 to participate in the conspiracy. Rambhai Patel also allegedly paid the store owners for use of their stores for the staged robberies.
Rambhai Patel was arrested in December 2023 by the FBI and was charged along with an accomplice Balwinder Singh. Both men pleaded guilty to the conspiracy charge for visa fraud in May last year and were sentenced to 20 years and 8 days. Patel allegedly made $8,50,000 from these staged robberies, which had to be forfeited after sentencing.
“The 11 defendants charged today are alleged to have either arranged with the organiser to set up each robbery, or paid for themselves or a family member to participate as a victim,” the DoJ said in the statement.
“The charge of conspiracy to commit visa fraud provides for a sentence of up to five years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the US Sentencing Guidelines and statutes which govern the determination of a sentence in a criminal case,” it added.
(Edited by Viny Mishra)
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