SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) – A wanted man from India and in the United States on a student visa appeared in federal court in Sioux Falls Friday morning in connection to a nation-wide call center fraud scheme.
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Venkatapavan Pachava appeared in front of a federal judge in Sioux Falls Friday morning as part of a federal complaint filed in Texas last month. According to court documents, Pachava was arrested in Brookings on Wednesday.
Pachava is accused of conspiracy to commit wire fraud along with 15 other defendants. Court documents say Pachava was a “courier” as part of a fraud scheme targeting a victim in northwestern Iowa.
The victim in northwestern Iowa was targeted by Indian call centers with a fraud scheme where the people represented themselves as agents of Homeland Security or the Drug Enforcement Administration. The victim handed off cash to “couriers” totaling more than $1 million from February 2025 to November 2025, court documents say…