Officer Emily Pelayo trains members of the Safeguard Palm Beach Youth Academy for Palm Beach in using handcuffs at the South Fire Station June 10, 2025 in Palm Beach. Twenty participants attended the two day program hosted by Safeguard, a division of Palm Beach Police and Fire Foundation
San Diego, California – Federal prosecutors in San Diego have charged 22 people in what they describe as a sweeping international fraud scheme that preyed on hundreds of older Americans through fake tech-support and refund scams.
According to an indictment unsealed Wednesday by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California, the alleged network spanned continents — with ringleaders in India and Dubai, and a laundering operation centered in San Diego. Investigators say the scheme targeted U.S. seniors and funneled millions of dollars overseas through a complex web of money mules and sham businesses.
At the center of it, prosecutors allege, was 41-year-old Victor Lee Marion, a San Diego resident accused of running the group’s domestic laundering cell since 2023. Marion allegedly coordinated payments from victims, recruited local co-conspirators through his business — Mecca Barbershop — and sent most of the money abroad.
The indictment claims that Marion worked directly with leaders of the criminal organization in India and Dubai, building a network of more than 20 people who helped receive, consolidate, and transfer the stolen funds. Those lower-level associates, authorities say, were encouraged to “graduate” to overseas roles within the organization, where they could take part in scams that defrauded elderly Americans more directly.
The alleged crimes are part of what investigators describe as a long-running, transnational operation active since at least July 2021. The FBI’s San Diego Elder Justice Task Force — a coalition of federal, state, and local agencies — led the probe. Officials estimate that more than 500 Americans were victimized by the scams, losing their savings to people posing as computer technicians or customer service representatives.
“As today’s numerous arrests confirm, FBI San Diego’s Elder Justice Task Force and its partner agencies are leading the charge against fraudsters targeting American seniors,” said Mark Dargis, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s San Diego Field Office. “Our nation’s elderly citizens deserve to be treated with respect, not scammed out of their hard-earned savings by criminals exploiting their trust.”
Court documents describe the operation as both a fraud and money-laundering network. The defendants are accused of using refund scams — in which victims are told they are owed money for canceled services or erroneous charges — to trick seniors into transferring large sums. Those proceeds were then allegedly funneled through a series of entities whose products and services helped conceal and transmit the money abroad.
Marion and 18 others are expected to make their first court appearances this week. If convicted, most of the defendants face up to 20 years in federal prison.
