WASHINGTON (CMC)— United States law enforcement authorities have charged 16 people in connection with a sprawling “grandparent scam” that defrauded elderly Americans out of millions of dollars.

The Justice Department said 11 of the 16 are from the Dominican Republic and have been named in the 19-count indictment with mail and wire fraud conspiracy, wire fraud, mail fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering and money laundering.

According to the indictment, unsealed in New Jersey, the defendants engaged in a long-running “grandparent” or “family in need of bail” scam against seniors in the United States. The scam was operated from call centres in the Dominican Republic.

The Justice Department said an additional five defendants, all based in the United States, were charged by the complaint with wire fraud conspiracy as part of the same scheme. They are alleged to have acted as couriers who picked up cash from defrauded victims in New Jersey, New York and elsewhere.

“The Justice Department’s Consumer Protection Branch and its law enforcement partners will vigorously pursue individuals who prey on vulnerable and elderly victims through fraudulent schemes,” said Deputy Assistant Attorney General Arun G Rao of the Civil Division.

“We will continue to identify perpetrators of these schemes and prioritise the pursuit of those who deliberately target vulnerable consumers, whether located in the United States or abroad,” he added.

The authorities say the 16 defendants preyed upon grandparents’ familial love and devotion, cheating them out of millions of dollars.

In this ‘grandparents’ scam,’ the defendants allegedly impersonated grandchildren in distress, claiming, for example, that they had been arrested after a car accident involving a pregnant woman who later miscarried, and they needed immediate cash for bail or a lawyer. The panic-stricken grandparents quickly paid, sometimes tens of thousands of dollars.

If convicted, the defendants face a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for each count, a maximum fine of US$250,000 for each count of the mail and wire fraud charges and a maximum fine of US$500,000 for each count of money laundering.