YOUNGSTOWN — Yash Raval was arraigned Monday in U.S. District Court in Youngstown on one count of money laundering accusing him of participating in a money laundering conspiracy that attempted to scam an elderly victim in the Salem area.

Raval is one of three men indicted in the case, which their Oct. 17 indictments called an “India-based call center scam” that attempted to obtain funds and other things of value from victims in the United States through misrepresentations.

The other two people indicted are Trusha Chaudhary and Shreyas Baldevbhai Chaudhary, who is a citizen of the Republic of India residing in India. Raval and Trusha Chaudhary were present in the United States during the time of the alleged scheme, their indictments allege.

Raval was arrested in Arizona on Oct. 27, according to the docket in the case. Magistrate Judge Carmen Henderson arraigned Raval during a hearing Monday. Raval pleaded not guilty. A detention hearing was held earlier in Arizona for Raval, so the magistrate ordered Raval detained pending trial. Raval is in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service, according to court documents.

Trusha Chaudhary was arraigned Nov. 13 in Youngstown before the magistrate judge, pleading not guilty to the same charge as Raval. Trusha Chaudhary’s bond was increased to $20,000, and he was ordered not to possess a firearm or other weapons and follow other orders of the federal pretrial services office, according to court documents.

THE SCHEME

The scheme involved a perpetrator posing as a customer service employee at a company or a bank employee falsely claiming that a “hacking event” had occurred, and the purported customer service employee referring the customer directly or indirectly to another perpetrator posing as a law enforcement agent or bank employee pretending to assist the victim in avoiding or mitigating the account being compromised, according to the indictments.

The phony law enforcement agent or bank employee discusses the incident with the victim, “validating the false story that the purported customer service employee told the victim” and also telling the victim to move the victim’s funds to a purported third party or government account portrayed as secure accounts. The story the victim is led to believe is that the funds would then be safe from the purported hackers, the indictment states.

The phony law enforcement agent or bank employee then coordinates the transfer of the victim’s funds to the phony secure accounts, which are in fact the accounts controlled by the scammers, the document states. The alleged scammers then carry out additional steps to carry out the transfer of funds and steal them from the victim.

The indictment alleges the co-conspirators in this case acted from January 2023 through about November of 2023 to perpetuate the scheme by “traveling to meet with victims at or near their homes, including driving by car to designated locations, where (the defendants) and their co-conspirators would meet with the victims and pick up U.S. currency or gold provided by victims for the purported purpose of securing the funds.” Another tactic was traveling to mail access point locations, where the defendants would present fraudulent identification cards to pick up packages containing U.S. currency that were shipped by victims trying to protect their funds, the indictments allege.

Shreyas Baldevbhai Chaudhary directed Raval and Trusta Chaudary “to act as couriers of U.S. currency and property.” Trusha Chaudhary and Raval “traveled to various locations in the United States to collect money and property from victims,” the indictments allege.

In regard to the Salem victim, Raval, “at the direction of a co-conspirator, traveled by car from Erie, Pa.” to victim’s home in the Salem area and received a wrapped package containing $50,000 of law enforcement funds that Raval believed were proceeds of wire fraud, the indictments allege. Raval then transported the cash in a car, in violation of federal law, the indictment states.

According to the indictments, in addition to the alleged victim in the Salem area, there was a victim in the Canon City, Colorado area. Both victims were considered “elder,” defined as 60 or more years old.