Prosecutors: NYC man scammed parents of abducted kids
NEW YORK - Peter Senese, a Brooklyn man, preyed on vulnerable and desperate parents of abducted children, conning them out of thousands of dollars, prosecutors say.
According to CBS New York, Senese set up two websites claiming he was the founding director of a not-for-profit called the "I CARE Foundation," prosecutors said Tuesday.
On the sites, he claimed to have a track record of recovering children who had been abducted and taken abroad. Prosecutors alleged that Senese claimed -- falsely -- that he could rescue the kids in exchange for money.
"...Peter Senese fed a pack of lies to desperate parents by telling them, among other things, that he and his company could, for a price, locate and recover their internationally kidnapped children," U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said, according to CBS New York. "In fact, he could do no such thing, but that didn't stop him from allegedly repeatedly reaching out to the parents for more money to fund his non-existent rescue mission."
According to the criminal complaint, Senese also claimed to be a former member of the Delta Force with access to other former Delta Force operators, prosecutors said.
The complaint outlines one scheme in which Senese allegedly conned a man whose child had been taken to India out of at least $21,000. When the victim said he didn't have any more money to fund the "rescue operation," Senese contacted the man's parents, who wired him $25,000, prosecutors said.
Senese is accused of wire fraud and if convicted faces up to 30 years in prison, reports the station.