Prosecutors in Kenosha, Wisconsin, have brought serious felony charges against two Gujarati men living in the Chicago suburbs, accusing them of diverting more than $653,000 in gold from an elderly North Kenosha resident. Authorities say the case appears to be tied to a larger, internationally operated fraud network. The charges were formally submitted on November 20.
The Kenosha County District Attorney’s Office has charged two Gujaratis Jagdishkumar Nandani and Chintan Thakkar of Chicago suburbs with money laundering exceeding $100,000 and with theft of movable property valued at more than $100,000.
Media reports have attributed to investigators that the fraud was set in motion when the victim began receiving persistent phone calls from someone posing as a federal agent. The caller allegedly warned her that her bank accounts had been compromised and linked to criminal activity, urging her to convert her funds into gold for “safekeeping.” An officer familiar with the case described the tactic as an intentional targeting of elderly individuals, noting that such scams are often run by trained operatives based abroad.
Believing she was following government instructions, the woman handed over $332,750 in gold on March 1, followed by another $139,500 on March 15, both times at her home. Police say she eventually sold her house—fearing it, too, was somehow targeted—and turned those proceeds into gold before surrendering that as well, bringing her total loss to more than $653,000.
Court filings state that police in Addison, Illinois, detained Nandani in March. Investigators report that he admitted collecting gold from Kenosha and that cell-phone location data placed him near the victim’s residence on the days of the pickups. The criminal complaint also notes that Nandani identified Thakkar as a partner and that both men maintained communication with contacts in India through messaging apps. One individual, known only as “Rahul,” is believed to have coordinated pickup routes and issued directions.
Authorities say Nandani typically kept between $1,000 and $1,500 from each collection, with the rest of the gold delivered to several drop-off sites in Chicago. Most of the proceeds were ultimately funneled to handlers outside the United States, according to investigators, who described the two men as links in a larger, organized chain.
Kenosha police were notified after Addison officers discovered the victim’s personal information in Nandani’s phone. Arrest warrants have been issued for both suspects, who have not yet been taken into custody.
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