A 22-year-old Chicago man was arrested in a police sting operation in Illinois after he was found involved in a scam that cost a resident of Paw Paw (Village in Illinois) $40,000 last month. Parth C. Patel has been charged with theft by deception and attempted theft by deception after a Lee County Sheriff’s Office investigation into an alleged scam.The victim was first contacted by someone claiming that their Apple account had been “hacked”. The caller then transferred the victim to a person posing as an FBI agent, who said money was needed to help catch the supposed ‘hacker.’The Paw Paw resident agreed to hand over $40,000 in cash. The money was collected from an address in the village on April 17 by an unidentified individual.The scam did not end there. The fake FBI agent later contacted the victim again and requested $28,500 more.Police became aware of the incident and launched an investigation. Detectives then arranged a controlled cash pick-up for Monday after the victim was asked to provide the additional money. The operation led to Patel’s arrest when he arrived to collect the cash. He was taken into custody and lodged at the Lee County Jail.Patel has been charged with theft by deception involving between $10,000 and $100,000, a Class 2 felony under Illinois law, as well as attempted theft by deception involving the same amount, a Class 3 felony.Patel appeared before a judge and was released pending further court proceedings under Illinois’ pretrial release law. A hearing in the case was scheduled for 21 May.
