Federal Charges Filed In $800,000 Montville Credit Fraud Case

MONTVILLE, CT — A 30-year-old citizen of India has been charged by federal prosecutors in an alleged "provisional credit" scheme in which he is accused of bilking more than 400 victims out of at least $800,000, announced United States Attorney John H. Durham.

Kishore Babu Ammisetti is accused of using Facebook Marketplace "and other media to victimize individuals, primarily of Indian decent, who advertised items for sale or rooms for rent."

The investigation revealed that Ammisetti allegedly often operated this scheme while staying at casino hotels in Connecticut. Members of the Mohegan Tribal Police assisted federal investigators in the probe.

It is alleged that Ammisetti entered the U.S. in 2013 on a student visa, which was revoked in 2014.

"Through this scheme, Ammisetti would contact a victim to express interest in purchasing an item or renting a room," wrote Durham in a release. "He would then gather the victim’s bank account information and other personal information under the guise of making a deposit to the victim’s bank account. He also would offer to provide a 'deposit' directly into the victim’s account via a Peer-to-Peer (P2P) transfer."

Durham continued that the complaint further "alleges that Ammisetti would then contact the victim’s bank and, posing as the victim, would claim to have made an ATM deposit that did not register on the victim’s bank account."

While researching the "unregistered deposit," the bank would credit the victim’s account with a provisional credit. Ammisetti would then contact the victim and claim that the provisional credit to the victim’s bank account was a mistaken transfer by Ammisetti to the victim’s account. Ammisetti would then request either a full or partial refund of that money, which the victim would provide via a P2P transfer. After the bank determined that there was no unregistered deposit to the victim’s account, the funds provided as a provisional credit would be removed from the account.

Ammisetti was arrested on Jan. 25 and appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Donna F. Martinez in Hartford Wednesday and was ordered detained.

The complaint charges Ammisetti with bank fraud, an offense that carries a maximum term of imprisonment of 30 years, and wire fraud, which carries a maximum term of imprisonment of 20 years.

Durham stressed that a criminal complaint is not evidence of guilt. Charges are only allegations, and a defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Nancy V. Gifford.

Image via Shutterstock

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