CHANDIGARH: A 22-year-old Indian student who came to Canada on a student visa and was studying there has been sentenced to 48 months in prison in the United States for his involvement in a multimillion-dollar fraud scheme targeting senior American citizens.
In a statement, the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Wisconsin announced that on July 27, United States District Judge Brett Ludwig sentenced 22-year-old Roshan Shah to 48 months’ imprisonment for conspiring to commit money laundering.
According to court records, Shah is a citizen of India who was attending college in Canada on a student visa. He entered the United States on a visitor visa to collect fraud proceeds. Shah was part of a fraud network that deceived victims into believing they had become targets of financial scams and needed to hand over their gold so that it could be kept in a safe box in Washington, DC. The victims were falsely told that if they failed to do so, they risked losing all their money.
“Co-conspirators in India called victims and convinced them that their identities had been used to commit crimes. The victims were led to believe they had to surrender cash or gold to a federal agent, impersonated by Shah, for safekeeping,” the statement read.
It further added that Shah collected more than USD 3.7 million from 15 victims across multiple US states.
Shah was arrested in 2025 after attempting to collect gold from victims in New Berlin, Wisconsin. Authorities did not disclose the Canadian province where Shah was studying or the educational institution he attended.
HSI Wisconsin Assistant Special Agent in Charge Eric Rice said, “This conviction and sentence are the result of the intensive efforts of federal law enforcement working closely with the US Attorney’s Office to combat the scourge of fraud targeting our seniors. This case should serve as a reminder that we will continue to devote substantial resources to fighting fraud, holding scammers accountable, and protecting Americans from these schemes.”
“This case highlights the danger faced by Americans from fraudsters both here and overseas. This conviction and sentence are the result of the intensive efforts of federal law enforcement working closely with the U.S. Attorney’s Office to combat the scourge of fraud targeting our seniors,” said First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Wisconsin Brad Schimel.
The case was jointly investigated by the US Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations and the New Berlin Police Department.
This is not the first time that an Indian student has been sentenced for a fraud scheme in the US. Earlier, 20-year-old Kishan Rajeshkumar Patel, an Indian student living in the US on a student visa, was sentenced to 63 months in prison by a federal court in Austin after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering.
According to court documents, Patel was involved in a scam that took place from July to August 2024, targeting at least 25 elderly Americans. Along with co-conspirators, Patel used online phishing techniques and impersonated US government officials to extort cash and gold, resulting in a loss of approximately USD 2.7 million. He was arrested on August 24, 2024, in Granite Shoals, Texas, after he picked up a box suspected of containing USD 130,000. He was later transferred to federal custody, where he pleaded guilty on March 18 this year.