Pakistani national sentenced to 14 years in prison for scheme to defraud elderly victim

AUGUSTA, Georgia: A Pakistani man living in Decatur has been sentenced to prison and ordered to pay restitution after pleading guilty to a wire fraud scheme.

The sentence was imposed by U.S. District Court Judge Dudley H. Bowen and announced by Margaret E. "Meg" Heap, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia.

Javed Ashiq, 52, of Decatur, Georgia, was sentenced to 168 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release and ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $886,799.84 after pleading guilty to Wire Fraud Conspiracy. Ashiq will be processed for deportation upon completion of his prison term.

There is no parole in the federal system.

As described in court documents and testimony, from July to August 2024, Ashiq acted as a courier for the conspiracy, in which he picked up gold bars and cash from the victim and delivered it to co-conspirators. He and his co-conspirators devised a scheme in which they led a victim to believe that their identity had been stolen and used for fraudulent purposes.

In doing so, Ashiq and his co-conspirators posed as federal agents with the Federal Trade Commission and convinced the victim to purchase cryptocurrency and gold to protect their assets. After the assets were purchased, Ashiq would take the assets to his co-conspirators leaving the victim empty handed.

"This case highlights the ruthless tactics scammers use to exploit senior citizens, including impersonating the very agencies meant to protect them," said U.S. Attorney Heap. "We hope this significant sentence provides some measure of justice for the victim and serves as a stark warning to others. We remain fully committed to dismantling elder fraud networks and ensuring that those who rob seniors of their financial security are taken off our streets."

If you are or have information about victims of elder financial abuse, visit: www.tips.fbi.gov/homeLinks to other government and non-government sites will typically appear with the "external link" icon to indicate that you are leaving the Department of Justice website when you click the link. or www.justice.gov/elderjustice/financial-exploitation.

"Defrauding an elderly victim of their life savings through deception and impersonation is reprehensible," said Matthew Ploskunak, Supervisory Senior Resident Agent of FBI Atlanta's Augusta office. "This sentence holds the defendant accountable for his role in exploiting a vulnerable victim, and the FBI and our law enforcement partners will continue working to identify and dismantle the criminal networks behind these elder fraud schemes."

This case was investigated by the FBI, Columbia County Sheriff's Office, and the Sandy Springs Police Department and prosecuted for the United States by Southern District of Georgia Assistant U.S. Attorney Kelsey L. Scanlon.