BURLINGTON — An Orlando, Florida, woman, whom officials say is part of a large-scale international fake computer service renewal scam that targeted various victims including at least one Vermont resident, pleaded not guilty in U.S. District Court in Burlington on Tuesday on a charge of conspiring to commit wire fraud.
The FBI in Burlington said Neha Junaid, 28, targeted elderly people by claiming in personal emails to be part of the “Geek Squad” — the business name for a computer service group associated with Best Buy, a national chain retailer.
FBI Special Agent Leah Bogdanowicz said the wide-ranging investigation covers money laundering, wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, computer fraud and computer fraud conspiracy. The FBI arrested Junaid in Orlando last month on a federal warrant from Vermont based initially on a criminal complaint filed by Bogdanowicz.
Bogdanowicz said the FBI has identified more than 500 victims who collectively suffered over $3 million in actual losses and over $3.5 million in attempted losses from scams similar to the scheme that the victims she has found in Vermont, Florida, Tennessee and South Carolina faced.
She said she has determined 100 of the victims sent money to Junaid’s bank accounts. Those 100 victims, including at least one Chittenden County resident, have lost at least $225,000 since August 2018, Bogdanowicz said.
The vast majority of the victims are considered elderly by the FBI because they are older than 60 years old,...
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