New York: A 58-year-old man has been sentenced to more than 10 years in prison for helping an international fraud network launder nearly $1 million stolen from elderly victims across the United States, including Arizona.
Ivan Wilbur Seales, a resident of New York and citizen of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, was handed a 121-month prison sentence on November 6 by US District Judge Scott H. Rash. He was earlier convicted by a jury of conspiracy to commit money laundering. The court also directed him to pay approximately $855,000 in restitution to victims who suffered financial losses.
According to the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona, Seales retained a share of the illicit proceeds while moving the remaining money through shell companies, cryptocurrency transactions, cash withdrawals and overseas financial transfers to conceal its origins.
The fraud network primarily targeted senior citizens through fake websites, pop-up alerts, emails and text messages impersonating banks, technology companies and payment services. Victims received fabricated notifications about charges supposedly linked to Geek Squad, PayPal or antivirus software.
When they contacted the numbers provided by the scammers, fraudsters posing as representatives of companies such as Apple and Microsoft convinced them that excess refunds had mistakenly been deposited into their accounts. Victims were then persuaded to transfer their own money to the criminals under the pretext of returning the alleged excess payments.
In other cases, victims were falsely warned that their bank accounts had been compromised. Some were instructed to move their money to supposedly secure locations, with scammers claiming the transfers would protect their funds or help investigators catch the criminals.
The US Postal Inspection Service and New York State Police investigated the case, with assistance from other state and local law enforcement agencies. The prosecution was handled by the US Attorney’s Office in Tucson, Arizona.
