The state case against Samar Nawaz who was allegedly dispatched to Baxter County by a scammer to collect cash from a person they believed to be an elderly local resident has been dismissed.
A $3,000 cash bond was forfeited to the state to cover fines and fees after the 30-year-old Nawaz was taken into custody by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on February 12. He is being held in the Washington County jail.
According to the Baxter County Sheriff’s office, it was found that Nawaz’s temporary visa had expired in 2023 and he was in the country illegally.
Nawaz listed addresses in Kansas City and New Jersey and a place of employment in New York City. He was driving a car rented in Dallas and was discovered to be a citizen of West Bengal State in India.
Nawaz was one of three people caught up in a sting operation in this area involving lawmen from several agencies and Trilogy Media a group known for exposing scam operations and assisting police in rounding up those involved in the scams.
In the operation in which Nawaz was arrested, a decoy posing as an elderly resident of this area, was used.
The scammers in the local operations were located overseas and they are the ones that made the initial contact with the victim/decoy and used a false story to talk the target into providing substantial amounts of money.
The scammers are reported to tell victims that a person – generally described as a deputy sheriff, Federal Bureau of Investigation agent or a representative of a federal agency – is coming to collect the cash. Nawaz is alleged to have been described to the decoy as an agent with the Federal Trade Commission.
In Nawaz’s case, despite what were described as numerous communications between him, the decoy and the scammer, made to set up arrangements for the cash swap the arrangements were never finalized and Nawaz tried to flee the area.
He was stopped before he got far and arrested on an outstanding warrant issued in North Carolina stemming from an attempt to defraud an elderly female out of $50,000 in a PayPal scam. He was pulled over by local law enforcement, arrested on the out-of-state warrant, and jailed in the Baxter County Detention Center on December 4 last year.
He remained in jail until transferred into the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers.
His original bond in the case was set at $25,000 but was reduced to $3,000 cash because the cash transfer was never consummated and he was being placed in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement(ICE)for expected deportation.
The amount involved in the scam was reported to be $60,000.
The state case can be refiled if circumstances warrant.
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