Central Texas authorities working to help 73-year-old man scammed out of more than $100,000

WACO, Texas (KWTX) – The McLennan County Prosecutor’s Office, Western Police Department and the Texas Attorney General’s Office are teaming up to try to recover more than $100,000 in fraud from a 73 year old man from the West.

In a motion for intentional seizure and forfeiture filed Wednesday in the 474th State District Court in Waco, officials allege that $103,758.07 was fraudulently obtained from the West resident by men claiming to be the director of the Federal Trade Commission.

Officials believe they traced the source of the scam to men in New York and Florida and obtained a court order to seize the money from their accounts, confiscate it under Texas civil forfeiture laws, then return the money to its rightful owner.

“Targeting seniors and stealing their hard-earned money is unfortunately a booming business for criminals everywhere,” McLennan County Prosecutor Josh Tetens said Thursday. “Thanks to the quick action of law enforcement, we now hope to return this money to a local victim in the West.”

Tetens cautioned that with any scam, if it seems too good to be true, it probably is. He advised residents to always attempt to verify the validity of financial transactions.

“When someone you don’t know calls you asking for money, or even threatening you if you don’t pay, your Spidey senses should be in overdrive and you should immediately request verification from the authorities or the claimed business,” Tetens said.

According to an affidavit filed with the seizure notice, the West Police Department referred the alleged scam to the Attorney General’s Office on Aug. 15 after receiving a complaint from the man.

The man said he received an email on April 9 from someone identifying himself as the director of the Federal Trade Commission.

“The victim was informed that the government would take action to freeze all of her bank accounts due to a money laundering crime associated with identity theft,” the affidavit claims. “The victim received several instructions from the sender of the message, which ultimately took place via text message to the victim’s cell phone.”

The man was instructed to deposit funds into a Bank of America account in the name of Hamid Toutounchian. Later, he was instructed to make another deposit into Houtan Zojaji’s Bank of America account. The West man sent $79,829 from his VeraBank account in the first transaction and $67,117 the second time, the affidavit states.

“The victim provided your custodian with copies of the checks deposited into his account as well as a deposit slip from Bank of America detailing the transaction,” the AG investigator wrote. “The victim reported receiving a voice message or phone call to this effect, but she was unable to retrieve the message recorded on her cell phone.”

The investigator contacted Bank of America on August 29 to inform them of the investigation. He was told that both accounts were active and contained more than the amount of funds the victim was required to deposit. He asked bank officials to freeze both accounts pending a court order to recover the victim’s funds, and wrote in the affidavit that the names on both accounts matched those given to the victim.

The investigator learned on September 16 that the bank manager had made a mistake and had given him the wrong total on one of the accounts. Instead of believing the account contained more than $200,000, the account intended to cover the $67,117 transaction contained only $23,929, according to the affidavit.

“Your depositor is awaiting a response to a grand jury subpoena from Bank of America for both accounts,” the affidavit states. “Once the response is received, your depositor will be able to confirm the amount of funds in both accounts when the accounts were frozen.”

Judge Thomas West of the 19th State District Court in Waco signed an order Sept. 4 seizing Bank of America funds.

“It is anticipated that Bank of America will release funds in the amount of $103,758.07 to the McLennan County Prosecutor’s Office in the form of a check,” according to the court document.

Toutounchian is listed in court documents as being from Daytona Beach, Florida, while Zojaji is identified as a resident of New York, New York. Neither responded to KWTX’s emails Thursday.