Foreign National Sentenced to More Than Six Years in Federal Prison for Conducting “Tech Support” Fraud Scheme That Victimized Senior Citizens in United States

CHICAGO - A foreign national has been sentenced to more than six years in federal prison for conducting a "tech support" fraud scheme that victimized senior citizens in the United States.

While residing in his native India in 2020 and 2021, KARTIK SAINI and co-schemers falsely represented to individuals in the United States that they were tech support or security employees of large companies, such as Google, Apple, or Citibank. Saini or a co-schemer falsely informed the victims that their computers had been hacked and that their bank accounts had been compromised. Saini or a co-schemer then convinced the victims to transfer significant funds to various bank accounts, claiming the companies would safely hold the money while the purported cyber hack was investigated by law enforcement. In reality, those bank accounts were controlled by Saini and his co-schemers, who used the accounts to steal the victims' money.

In addition to the tech support fraud, Saini also convinced some of his victims to transfer cryptocurrency or gift cards to him or his co-schemers. In all, Saini defrauded at least four victims with an intended loss of more than $1.2 million. One of the victims, a Chicago resident, suffered a loss of more than $746,000, which reflected a large portion of her retirement savings.

Saini, 33, was arrested at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York on Aug. 26, 2024, where he arrived from India. He pleaded guilty in federal court in Chicago in March 2026 to a wire fraud charge. On June 25, 2026, U.S. District Judge John Robert Blakey sentenced Saini to six years and a month in federal prison and ordered him to pay full restitution to his victims.

The sentence was announced by Andrew S. Boutros, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, and Lucas Rothaar, Acting Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Field Office of the FBI.

"Defendant's scheme caused significant financial loss and emotional trauma to victims," Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan L. Shih argued in the government's sentencing memorandum. "A significant sentence of incarceration will send a message to those would-be participants in these types of schemes, including those located in India, that those who defraud American citizens from abroad will face a meaningful term of imprisonment."