A Chicago man is now facing charges after a person in Paw Paw reported losing thousands of dollars to a scam.
Authorities charge 22-year-old Parth Patel with felony theft by deception (between $10,000 and $100,000) and attempted theft by deception (also between $10,000 and $100,000), according to the Lee County Sheriff’s Office.
Investigators say deputies learned about a financial scam in the Village of Paw Paw on Sunday, April 26.
The victim told deputies someone contacted them and claimed their Apple account had been “hacked.” The victim said a person then transferred them to an “FBI Agent,” who insisted they needed to pay money to catch the supposed hacker. The victim in Paw Paw agreed to hand over $40,000 to the scammer, and someone picked up that cash on April 17 from an address in Paw Paw.
Lee County deputies say the same “FBI Agent” reached out to the victim again and asked for another $28,500. On April 27, members of the Lee County Sheriff’s Office arranged a specific time for the suspected scammer to collect the $28,500 in cash.
As a result of that operation, police arrested Patel, charged him, and took him to the Lee County Jail.
On April 28, Patel walked out of jail under the Pretrial Fairness Act, and officials gave him a court date of May 21.
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