Suspect In $1M Fraud, Identity Theft Scheme Charged: Harford County Sheriff's Office

HARFORD COUNTY, MD — A suspect has been charged in connection to an identity theft and fraud scheme that swindled a Harford County resident out of $1 million, officials say.

On June 13, a 73-year-old Harford County woman received an email from erickressman@tuta.io, which supposedly was from Eric Kressman with the Office of the Inspector General. The email claimed that the victim was the target of identity theft. Shortly after, the victim received a telephone call from an individual identifying himself as "Willy Le" who said he was an employee of the Social Security Administration. Le convinced the victim that to protect her money, she needed to transfer it to him. Le had detailed information about the victim’s bank accounts and urged her to keep the situation confidential, even requesting her to sign a non-disclosure form, which she refused, according to the Harford County Sheriff's Office.

Following Le's instructions, the victim made several transactions over a five-week period, including deposits into a bitcoin machine and purchases of gold. She met with the suspects on five different occasions to hand over the gold and cash, resulting in a total loss of more than $1 million dollars, the sheriff's office said.

The investigation was turned over to financial crimes detectives with the Harford County Sheriff's Office Criminal Investigations Division. Detectives determined the suspects used a silver Chevrolet Equinox registered to Devalkumar Harshadkumar Vyas when meeting with the victim. Detectives determined that Vyas, along with his wife Mamata D. Vyas, were found to be involved in a similar crime in New York state. Both husband and wife were arrested July 10 by New York State Police and charged in their jurisdiction.

Vyas was interviewed by Harford County detectives on July 31 and admitted involvement in the identity theft and fraud scheme in Harford County.

The sheriff's office asks that anyone who believes they might have been a victim of a similar scam to contact Detective Sergeant at 410-836-5428.