A federal jury in Austin has convicted Bhavesh Kumar Thakkar, 45, an Indian national who was in the United States on a spousal visa, of two counts tied to wire fraud and money laundering. Prosecutors say he was directly connected to more than $150 million in proceeds that India-based call-center scammers took from elderly victims across the country.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas announced the verdict on October 5. Thakkar is the fourth defendant convicted in the scheme.
What prosecutors say Thakkar did
The U.S. Attorney’s release describes him as a U.S.-based coordinator who received and laundered cash and gold taken from elderly victims nationwide. He also personally received some of the funds from couriers, according to the release.
The money did not stay in the country. Prosecutors say the funds were shipped to Los Angeles and New York and then laundered overseas, and that the conspiracy ran from at least September 2022 until September 17, 2025.
Where the pattern shows up for older Americans
The case shows where a call-center scam ends up. The cash and gold in this scheme moved through couriers, who carried it to locations in the U.S. before it was laundered overseas. A caller who asks an older person to hand over cash or gold to a courier, or to ship it, matches the pattern prosecutors describe, and it is the point at which a pause and a call to a family member can stop the loss.
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U.S. Attorney Justin R. Simmons said many victims lose a significant part of their life savings to these scammers, which is why the handoff to a courier is the step worth interrupting.
The three earlier defendants
Three people were convicted before him. Dhruv Rajeshbhai Mangukiya, a courier, was sentenced in 2025 to 97 months in federal prison. Kishan Rajeshkumar Patel, also a courier, was sentenced in 2025 to 63 months. Rakesh Barot pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering and is awaiting sentencing, with no date given.
The release does not give a sentencing date or the maximum penalties for Thakkar, so how long he will serve is still open.
What the officials said
Simmons said that “foreign actors, both abroad and here in the United States, cannot be allowed to target Americans.”
Daniel Faith, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s San Antonio Division, said protecting elderly citizens from fraud is a high priority for the bureau. The FBI and the Granite Shoals Police Department investigated, and the FBI thanked its field offices and Indian authorities through its New Delhi office. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Keith Henneke and Brandy Gann prosecuted the case.
What a conviction does and does not settle
Federal prosecutors in the Western District of Texas publish their cases at the office’s website, and the verdict there confirms the jury accepted the government’s case against Thakkar. The over $150 million is the amount prosecutors tie to him, and the release describes it as proceeds from elderly victims across the United States, not as a single case or a single victim count.
The release does not say how many victims there were or whether any money has been recovered. Barot’s sentencing and Thakkar’s own are the next events to watch.
The scheme ran for about three years, from September 2022 to September 2025, according to the release, which is a long stretch of time for older Americans to have been targeted.
How can a family spot this scam before cash moves?
Prosecutors tie more than $150 million to this one scheme, and the money moved from elderly victims to couriers to overseas accounts. A scam victim’s personal details can also be used against them afterward, which is where a credit freeze comes in.
The Senior Fraud Defense & First-Hour Recovery Kit includes the free credit-freeze steps, a first-hour recovery plan for after a scam and a fraud evidence and report log. It cannot recover money already sent, but it lays out what to do in the first hour and how to lock down what is left.
Get the Senior Fraud Defense kit’s free credit-freeze steps and first-hour plan →
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- 17 Medicare Money Moves Now That Part D Caps at $2,400
This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
