John H. Durham, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that KISHORE BABU AMMISETTI, 30, a citizen of India, waived his right to be indicted and pleaded guilty today before U.S. District Judge Victor A. Bolden in Bridgeport to one count of bank fraud stemming from a “provisional credit” scheme.

According to court documents and statements made in court, Ammisetti used Facebook Marketplace and other media to victimize individuals, primarily of Indian decent, who advertised items for sale or rooms for rent.  Through this scheme, Ammisetti would contact a victim to express interest in purchasing an item or renting a room.  He would then gather the victim’s bank account information and other personal information under the guise of making a deposit to the victim’s bank account.  He also would offer to provide a “deposit” directly into the victim’s account via a Peer-to-Peer (P2P) transfer.

Ammisetti would then contact the victim’s bank and, posing as the victim, would claim to have made an ATM deposit that did not register on the victim’s bank account.  While researching the “unregistered deposit,” the bank would credit the victim’s account with a provisional credit.  Ammisetti would then contact the victim and claim that the provisional credit to the victim’s bank account was a mistaken transfer by Ammisetti to the victim’s account.  Ammisetti would then request either a full or partial refund of that money, which the victim would provide via a P2P transfer.  After the bank determined that there was no unregistered deposit to the victim’s account, the funds provided as a provisional credit would be removed from the account.

Ammisetti stole at least $860,000 from more than 400 victims through this scheme.

The investigation revealed that Ammisetti often operated this scheme while staying at casino hotels in Connecticut.

Ammisetti has been detained since his arrest on January 25, 2019.

Bank fraud carries a maximum term of imprisonment of 30 years.  A sentencing date is not scheduled.

Ammisetti entered the U.S. in 2013 on a student visa, which was revoked in 2014.

This matter is being investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), with the assistance of the Mohegan Tribal Police.  The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Nancy V. Gifford.