Sixteen Charged in New Jersey Over a Dominican Republic "Grandparent Scam" Call Center Network

The charges

On April 30, 2024, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger of the District of New Jersey announced charges against 16 people. Eleven men from the Dominican Republic were named in a 19-count indictment for mail and wire fraud conspiracy, wire fraud, mail fraud, money laundering conspiracy and money laundering. Five more were charged by complaint with wire fraud conspiracy. The Department of Justice (DOJ) Consumer Protection Branch worked the case with the U.S. Attorney's Office (USAO).

Investigators included Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Social Security Administration (SSA) Office of the Inspector General and the New York Police Department (NYPD).

How the calls worked

According to the DOJ announcement:

• Juan Rafael Parra Arias, Nefy Vladimir Parra Arias and Nelson Rafael Gonzalez Acevedo allegedly ran a network of call centers in the Dominican Republic.
• "Openers" called elderly people in the U.S. and pretended to be their children, grandchildren or other relatives. The call centers used technology to make the calls look like they came from inside the U.S.
• The usual story: your grandchild was in a car accident, got arrested and needs help. The U.S. Attorney's statement gave one example, an accident involving a pregnant woman who later miscarried.
• "Closers" then posed as defense attorneys, police officers or court staff and convinced victims to hand over thousands of dollars in cash.
• Victims gave the cash to couriers sent to their homes, or mailed it.
• "Dispatchers" recruited and managed U.S. couriers, who often used false names and handed out fake receipts. The money went back to the Dominican Republic.

Victims lived in several states, including New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts. DOJ said the network stole millions of dollars from hundreds of people.

Extraditions

DOJ announced on July 23, 2024 that Rafael Ambiorix Rodriguez Guzman ("Max Morgan") and Felix Samuel Reynoso Ventura ("Filly The Kid") had been extradited and appeared in Newark federal court on July 22. Both allegedly worked in the call centers and phoned elderly Americans.

On August 5, 2024, DOJ announced that three more, including alleged leader Juan Rafael Parra Arias, had been extradited and ordered detained pending trial. The case is United States v. Parra Arias, No. 24-cr-6 (D.N.J.). These are charges, and every defendant is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.

Why you should care

You're not running a grandparent scam. But a few details matter to anyone in the calling business:

1. Spoofed domestic caller ID was a core tool. That's exactly what STIR/SHAKEN and Know Your Customer rules aim at.
2. The opener and closer model looks a lot like a legitimate sales floor. Prosecutors charged every role, from the call center bosses to the couriers.
3. Impersonating lawyers, police or court staff turned a family emergency story into a payment demand.

If you carry international traffic presenting U.S. numbers, know where it actually originates. That's it.