WANTED: Des Plaines man posing as a federal agent targeting elderly victims

CHICAGO — A federal indictment alleges that a northwest suburban schemed to defraud elderly victims through false claims that law enforcement agencies were seeking to keep their money safe.

The indictment accuses Abdul Mohammed, 31, of Des Plaines, of several charges related to wire fraud after he and others allegedly participated in a scheme mainly targeting elderly victims amid claims of being government agents.

There is an active arrest warrant for Mohammed, whose whereabouts remain unknown.

Prosecutors said that victims learned, albeit falsely, that their information had been compromised and needed to provide money to federal law enforcement for safekeeping. In some instances, the fraudsters instructed victims to convert their savings and retirement accounts to cash or gold bars and to provide those funds to law enforcement for ‘protection.’

According to prosecutors, in one incident, conspirators allegedly informed a male victim that he was implicated in a drug crime and instructed the victim to withdraw $80,000 from their accounts or the money would be frozen by the IRS. That same victim, prosecutors say, later encountered Mohammed in an additional attempt to collect $45,000.

The complaint added that schemers used an alias, ‘Agent Roy,’ to solicit money from the victims.

Authorities ask anyone with information on Mohammed’s whereabouts to call their office at (317) 595-4000 or FBI.gov/tips .

The United States Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of Indiana announced the charges. If convicted, Mohammed faces up to 60 years in federal prison.

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