The call arrived in two parts, by design. An employee the operation called an “Opener” phoned an older American and claimed to be a grandchild who had just been in an accident. Minutes later a “Closer” called back, this time posing as that grandchild’s attorney, and named a sum for legal fees. Federal prosecutors in Boston say that two-step script, run out of call centers in the Dominican Republic, pulled more than $5 million out of over 400 people whose average age was 84.
The Opener, the Closer and the callback asking for more
Four Dominican nationals have pleaded guilty in the case, and a fifth has been sentenced. According to the charging documents, Oscar Manuel Castanos Garcia, 34, oversaw the call centers and employed English-speaking co-conspirators to run what investigators describe as grandparent scams. Joel Jose Cruz Rodriguez, 34, and Edward Jose Puello Garcia, 45, are identified as managers who supervised, instructed and paid the employees.
What separates this operation from a single cold call is the follow-up. Prosecutors say the center often called victims back to ask for additional money, sometimes two or three more times, with fresh reasons attached. In some calls a co-conspirator claimed there had been a mix-up. In others, the caller said a pregnant woman’s baby had been lost in the crash. The announcement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts lays out that escalation as a deliberate feature of the script rather than an improvisation.
The tell is structural. A real family emergency does not arrive through a stranger who calls back three times with a new figure and a new tragedy each time. The second call, the one from the supposed attorney, exists because a person who has already spoken to a “grandchild” is far more likely to believe a lawyer confirming the same story.
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Rideshare drivers were sent to the door to pick up the cash
The collection method is the detail most worth carrying away. Callers instructed victims to hand packages of cash to “runners” inside the United States. Most often, according to the government, the callers did not send the runner. They ordered a rideshare driver to the victim’s house, had the driver collect the package, and then had that driver deliver it to a runner waiting at a nearby location. In other instances victims were told to ship packages of cash to specified addresses by mail or commercial carrier.
The drivers were unwitting. Prosecutors also say co-conspirators at times directed those same drivers to take elderly victims to the bank so they could withdraw more money. The detention affidavit filed in the case describes that arrangement, which put a layer of ordinary commercial activity between the money and anyone connected to the scheme.
Practically, that means the warning sign is not a suspicious-looking courier. It is the request itself. No legitimate legal fee, bail payment or court cost in the United States is settled by handing an envelope of cash to a driver at the front door or shipping it to an address by overnight carrier.
Four guilty pleas, a 48-month sentence, and two defendants still at large
Castanos Garcia, Cruz Rodriguez, Puello Garcia and Joel Francisco Mathilda Leon, 27, of the Bronx, each pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and wire fraud and one count of money laundering conspiracy. All four were indicted by a federal grand jury in May 2024, arrested in the Dominican Republic in August 2025 at the request of the United States, extradited, and held pending trial.
A fifth defendant, Luis German Santos Burgos, 33, was sentenced on June 25, 2026 by U.S. District Judge Leo T. Sorokin to 48 months in prison and three years of supervised release. Prosecutors say he ran a separate grandparent scam call center and coordinated with Castanos Garcia to send runners to collect proceeds for both operations. A sixth defendant, Gerardo Heriberto Nuñez Nuñez, 41, has agreed to plead guilty to one count of money laundering conspiracy.
Two men named in the case, Ransel Starlin Tavarez Jimenez, 27, of the Bronx and Jose Arony Fermin Vasquez, 31, of New Jersey, are listed as at large. They are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. Each fraud conspiracy count carries a statutory maximum of 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 or twice the loss to the victim; each money laundering conspiracy count carries up to 20 years and a fine of up to $500,000 or twice the laundered amount.
How the money moved back out of the country
Cash collected at American front doors did not stay in American hands. Castanos Garcia directed runners to deposit victims’ money into bank accounts or hand it to co-conspirators, and the operation leaned on money launderers in both countries to move the proceeds. The indictment alleges that Nuñez Nuñez supplied call center operators with access to bank accounts held in the names of purported businesses, arranged for runners to hand-deliver victim cash to individuals in New York and elsewhere, and then supplied cash to the operators back in the Dominican Republic.
That structure is why recovery is slow and partial. By the time a family notices the withdrawal, the money has typically passed through a driver, a runner, a business-named account and a courier. The case that produced these pleas began with an indictment two years before the first arrests, which is a realistic picture of the timeline involved.
Where losses in this case get reported
The Justice Department set up a direct channel for people who believe they were caught in this particular operation. Members of the public can write to [email protected] or call 1-800-CALL-FBI, which is 1-800-225-5324. Suspected fraud outside this case can be reported through the FBI’s IC3 elder fraud complaint center.
The arrests here followed an earlier action in the same district, announced when thirteen individuals were charged with operating the scheme, and the current release was announced by U.S. Attorney Leah B. Foley and Ted E. Docks, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Boston Division. Assistant U.S. Attorney David M. Holcomb is prosecuting.
This article was produced with AI assistance and reviewed by a human editor. Figures are linked to their primary sources; where a claim could not be verified from the public record, we say so.
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