Accused JC Scammers Hit With More Charges, Total Take Rises By $400,000
Three Indian Americans from North Jersey charged in a hotel supply company scam were re-arrested this week after authorities said they learned that the trio stiffed victims by three times as much money as they’d originally believed.
Married couple Viral Patel, 38, and Priyanka Patel, 33, of Jersey City and Pratik Patel, 35, of Ramsey, were originally charged last December with pocketing $200,000 for services that were never provided by their Janvi Hotel Supply company on Thorne Street, Hudson County Prosecutor Esther Suarez said.
Members of the prosecutor’s Special Investigations Unit conti…
Victims Scammed Out Of $2.2M By NJ Couple In 'Publishers Clearing House Lottery' Scheme: Cops
A couple from Secaucus is facing a litany of charges after scamming residents in multiple states out of more nearly $2.2 million, police said.
Akeem Lee and Majda Hodzic-Lee called victims in Florida, Minnesota, Arizona, Kansas, Massachusetts, Kentucky, Colorado, Pennsylvania and Nebraska, saying they'd won the "Publishers Clearing House Lottery," Secaucus Police Chief Dennis Miller said.
In exchange for the vehicles and large sums of money the victims were told they won, they were required by Lee and Hodzic-Lee to send cash, money orders and/or gift cards for taxes, fees and IRS …
NJ Man Promised Victims Luxury Cars, Instead He Kept Their $202K: Cops
A 32-year-old Rahway man has been arrested after he was given more than $200,000 to purchase luxury vehicles that the victims never received, authorities said.
Jonathan Najarro, who ran J and J Auto Sound and Security Corporation, became the center of an investigation last October, when the victims reported he had $202,920 of their money, Somerset County Prosecutor John P. McDonald said.
The theft occurred between July 2022 and October 2022 in Somerville, said McDonald alongside Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office Chief of County Detectives Francisco Roman Jr., and Somerville…