A group of South Asian immigrants have turned into amateur gumshoes in hot pursuit of a man they say conned them out of millions of dollars, tracking him down to India.
This volunteer network of detectives have gone undercover to film the accused swindler in Mumbai, paid community “spies” and doormen in India to keep tabs on his whereabouts and traced cashier’s checks in his name at halalas, or money transfer stations from Tracy to Toronto.
Yet, the self-described faith healer who once lived in the East Bay remains free, his victims realize, largely because of gray areas in criminal law.
The man known as Iqbal is accused of brokering phony business deals and telling his victims that he could predict winning lottery numbers. He allegedly bilked $2 million from at least 15 Bay Area residents from San Jose to Hayward in 2006, allegations outlined in police reports and in interviews with the victims themselves. The victims say they’ve gathered information indicating he also operated in Houston, Chicago and New Jersey over the past 13 years.
Union City police Sgt. Brandon Hayward said murky legal areas made the case challenging. Hayward worked on the case for nearly two years before he said a consumer fraud deputy district attorney told him it would be impossible to prove to a jury that Iqbal knew the lottery numbers he was giving out weren’t going to be true in the future. Hayward empathizes with the victims.
“They were absolutely swindled,” Hayward said. “This guy said God came to him in a dream, and they chose to pay. How do you prove that the guy knew the numbers wouldn’t come true? We know he’s playing off false hopes and using magic mojo, but there’s that gray area between religion and the penal code.”
“He violated and victimized the community,” said A. Singh, a semiconductor engineer in San Jose who is heading up the volunteer search for Iqbal. He asked that his full name not be used because he hasn’t told his children he lost $350,000 to Iqbal. “He’s preying on people going through troubled times.”
Singh has been tracking Iqbal for about four years, recruiting other victims to join him in the quest to bring the alleged swindler to justice. Singh even joined the FBI citizens academy to learn policing tactics and network with federal agents.
Attempts to find Iqbal and reach him for comment were unsuccessful.
While in the Bay Area, Iqbal advertised on Indian language radio programs, such as Humsafar.
“His ad came on every five minutes,” said Sewa Purewal, 56, of San Jose, a part-time ice cream truck driver who gave Iqbal $25,000 in the hopes of learning the winning $25 million lottery numbers four years ago.
Purewal had no insurance and hadn’t had much luck with Western doctors, so he hoped Iqbal could cure his aching knee. He had seen other healer-types in his Punjabi hometown, and they had always done right by him. Iqbal promised Purewal that he was blessed by God to help others. And after seven free visits, Iqbal persuaded Purewal to give him money to play the lottery.
“Yes, there was some greed on my part,” Purewal said. “But he said he was a holy person who wouldn’t lie.”
Singh brought his wife to Iqbal to treat her migraine headaches and also to ward off evil because there had been three deaths in her family in a two-week span.
After a few visits with Iqbal, the migraines seemed to lessen. Singh, who was out of work, found a job as Iqbal predicted he would. Then he persuaded Singh to hand over $350,000 to pay a third party, and Singh would reap the rewards of a lucrative real estate deal.
After two months, Singh didn’t land any such deal. Iqbal disappeared.
It was then, that Singh turned into Sherlock Holmes. But thus far, he’s been unable to persuade any law enforcement agency into trying to have Iqbal arrested in India and extradited back to the United States.
Despite the obstacles, Singh is driven to put Iqbal behind bars. He insists it’s not even about the money anymore but about making sure the devastating scam is stopped.
“He’s living like a king now,” Singh said. “But every week I put in a couple hours of time trying to get him.”
Be the first to comment