Man pleads guilty to his part in scamming elderly widow out of thousands of dollars

A man who thought “something was not right” when taking envelopes of money from an elderly woman has pleaded guilty to his part in scamming her.

Amarish Patel quietly responded “guilty” when asked how he pleaded to charges of possessing and attempting to possess proceeds of crime when he appeared before the ACT Magistrates Court on Thursday (3 August).

The charges of money laundering, blackmail and making threats to kill were withdrawn by the prosecution.

According to the agreed facts, the 29-year-old became wrapped up in the scam to take $70,000 from an elderly widow through WhatsApp messages from a friend he had met in India.

The woman had been receiving multiple calls from a person identifying himself as “Jerry”, demanding she make continual withdrawals of money.

She would then be ordered to hand the money to a courier who met her at the front of her home.

On two of these occasions, that person was Patel, however there were other instances where other men showed up to take money.

The first time Patel picked up money from the victim was on 16 December 2022, after he received a message from an ‘Alpesh Bhai Geton’ containing a screenshot of a map showing the victim’s address.

“The Defendant receives further messages which state, ‘Old lady, Dress – black pants and blue top’, ‘Password Jerry’ and ‘7500’,” the tendered facts stated.

Patel received $200 for picking up the money.

The second time, on 18 January 2023, the victim had spoken with police about the multiple times she had handed over money to men who appeared to work for ‘Jerry’.

This time the victim handed over an envelope of $4000, which officers had covered with a highly transferrable ultraviolet substance.

Soon after police intercepted Patel’s vehicle, which was being driven by a second man who did not have any knowledge of why Patel was at the victim’s home.

Patel tried to run from officers when the vehicle was stopped, but he was caught and placed under arrest.

“The Defendant immediately began stating that he did not know anything and that he was just the courier,” the tendered facts stated.

“Police observed a large amount of $50 notes strewn across the dashboard compartment of the vehicle.”

During an interview with police, Patel admitted to collecting money from the victim, and officers found messages on his phone directing him to do so.

While he initially denied he collected cash from the victim in December, Patel later said he had picked up the $7000 and deposited them into various bank accounts using ATMs in Gungahlin.

“The defendant stated he was instructed to put the money in $1000 amounts or less to avoid detection from Police and the banks,” the tendered facts stated.

“During both money collections from [the victim] he thought the process was not right and something may be wrong.”

Patel had initially been denied bail when he was first arrested but was granted bail during his second attempt a week later.

Police have previously indicated it’s believed the mastermind behind the scam is located in Queensland and could be part of an alleged syndicate.

Patel is set to be sentenced on 25 September.