Two Indian men were charged with conspiring to commit visa fraud by staging robberies in the United States

A federal grand jury has charged two men of Indian descent who were detained for allegedly planning violent robberies as part of a visa fraud scheme.

In Boston, Massachusetts, Rambhai Patel, 36, and Balwinder Singh, 39, were each charged with one count of conspiracy to commit visa fraud.

Patel was jailed awaiting trial after being captured in Seattle in December of last year. At the same time, Singh was taken into custody in Queens, and after making his first appearance in December 2023, he was freed under certain conditions.

The criminal papers said that beginning in March 2023, Patel and his accomplices—which sometimes included Singh—arranged and carried out staged armed robberies of at least nine fast-food and convenience businesses and liquor stores nationwide, including at least five in Massachusetts.

The staged robberies are allegedly done to enable the clerks involved to declare, on an application for U non-immigration status (U Visa), that they were victims of violent crimes.

Victims of certain crimes who have experienced physical or emotional abuse and who have assisted law authorities in the investigation or prosecution of criminal activities may be eligible for a U Visa.

business security footage purportedly shows the “robber” threatening business owners and/or staff with a gun before stealing cash from the register and running off during the claimed staged robberies.

After the “robber” had left, the owners and/or clerks would wait for at least five minutes before reporting the “crime” to the police.

Patel is said to have received payment from the “victims” in order to take part in the scam. A person reportedly paid USD 20,000 to take part in a simulated armed robbery as a victim.

Patel reportedly reimbursed the business owners for letting him utilize their establishments for the fictitious heist.

According to the allegations, at least two of the accused victim co-conspirators applied for U visas on the grounds that they had been the victims of armed robberies that were manufactured.

A penalty of up to five years in jail, three years of supervised release, and a fine of USD two hundred fifty thousand dollars are all possible outcomes of the conspiracy accusation of visa fraud.