Two New York men are charged with posing as members of law enforcement and extorting/scamming $115,000 from a 78-year-old victim living in Strasburg.

Vikram Singh, 22 of South Ozone Park, N.Y., and a John Doe, later identified as Devraj Devraj after refusing to give any further information to investigators, are charged with theft by deception, criminal use of a communication facility, and two counts of theft by extortion for their roles in the scheme.

The Strasburg Borough Police Department received a call on September 15 for a theft not in progress from concerned citizens that their neighbor was being scammed out of money.

The Strasburg Borough Police Department then made contact and spoke with the victim who stated she received a call on her cell phone from someone identifying themselves as a member of the DEA’s Office. This person advised the victim that her social security number was used in the commission of narcotics dealing, money laundering and that the victim would be charged.

The call was then transferred to a fake sergeant and another perpetrator.

The perpetrators told the victim she could either hire an attorney and handle the case publicly – which would last 2-7 years – or she could keep it private and have her assets picked up and secured by the government.

At the direction of the perpetrators, the victim withdrew money from her bank accounts on multiple occasions. The defendants drove to the victim’s house to pick up the money and directed the victim to drop the money off in the back of their car and walk back inside her house.

Strasburg Borough Police Department Chief Nick Ferretti notified Lancaster County Detectives, who then became involved in the investigation and intercepted a phone call on September 21 from the defendants to the victim arranging another meet-up on September 22.

Strasburg Police, East Lampeter Township Police, Lancaster County Detectives, Lancaster County SERT, and the Lancaster County Sheriff’s Department conducted an operation on September 22 and arrested the defendants, who were in a vehicle matching the description they gave to the victim. The vehicle stopped in front of the victim’s residence.

One of the defendants attempted to flee on foot from a uniformed SERT Officer.

Information recovered through interviews, the vehicle, and cell phone data showed the defendants were not legally in the United States and were currently in removal proceedings and on immigration bonds.

Further information obtained through the investigation indicates the scam operation stems from a contact in New York City who would text the defendants information outlining time, date, and location of pick-up points for money and then direct them to multiple drop-off points throughout NYC and other states.

All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.

The defendants were arraigned Saturday and have a tentative preliminary hearing date of October 6. Lancaster County Detective Stanley Roache filed charges, which were approved by Assistant District Attorney Jessica Collo.

The investigation into this matter continues.

MEDIA CONTACT: Sean McBryan, semcbryan@co.lancaster.pa.us; Twitter: @SeanMcBryanLanc.

Sourced via CRIMEWATCH®: https://lancaster.crimewatchpa.com/da/11617/post/new-york-men-charged-extortingscamming-115k-78-year-old-strasburg-resident