Indian man on student visa in US sentenced to 30 months for defrauding Vietnam veteran

Venkateswara Chagamreddy, an Indian man living in Texas on a student visa. An Indian citizen living in the US on a student visa has been sentenced to 30 months in prison for his role in a scheme that defrauded an elderly Vietnam veteran, the US Attorney’s Office said.Venkateswara Chagamreddy, 37, of San Antonio, Texas, was also ordered to pay USD 99,496 in restitution and will serve three years of supervised release after his prison term. He is expected to face removal proceedings from the US after completing his sentence.A federal jury convicted Chagamreddy in April 2026 of conspiring to defraud the elderly veteran. He will remain in custody pending his transfer to the US Bureau of Prisons.How did the fraud scheme work?The case began in August 2025 when the elderly victim called a phone number he believed was Microsoft support. The person answering falsely told him that criminal activity had been detected on his computer and that the matter would be reported to the federal government.The victim was then contacted by a person posing as a federal officer, who claimed that his identity had been stolen and used to commit federal crimes. He was later transferred to someone posing as a ...