Fake FBI agents stole $255K from Sedgwick County woman before sting, affidavit alleges
A Sedgwick County woman in her 80s was swindled out of $255,000 in gold over the course of a months-long phone scam after she was convinced the strangers on the line were FBI agents safeguarding her finances.
Now, two of the men allegedly involved in the conspiracy are under investigation by real FBI agents, who allege they intentionally targeted elderly, retired individuals.
The scam, an affidavit described, began in late May 2025 when the 84-year-old woman said she received a phone call. The caller transferred her to a man who identified himself as Richard Williams, an agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
According to the affidavit, the man told the woman her Social Security number had been compromised and she had to “pull her money out of her account and buy gold, to make sure her money was safe.”
Over the next several months the man called her multiple times a week, giving her specific instructions to purchase gold, contact him with pictures and receipts of the transaction and then deliver it to an undercover agent who would “clear the gold” and then send it back to her once the investigation was complete. She was warned, she told police in the affidavit, that she was to “not tell anyone about this” or the agents would be investigated, as well.
From June to August, the woman made three separate purchases of gold, totalling $255,287, and met with “undercover agents” three times outside an Andale church to make the hand-off.
Each drop-off was conducted somewhat similarly, the affidavit described, with instructions sent over the phone, receipts photographed and the gold wrapped and handed to strangers, all while the woman remained convinced she was protecting her savings.
It wasn’t until early September that the fraud was reported to the Andale Police Department after family members learned “all her assets were gone,” a press release said, prompting the sheriff’s office and two FBI special agents to coordinate a sting operation to intercept a final gold drop.
Under law enforcement surveillance, the woman contacted the alleged FBI agent and was able to convince him that she had $76,000 in “wheat money” that she could use to purchase gold. Agents provided the woman with gold to photograph and text to him as proof of purchase.
On Sept. 17, the man asked the woman to meet at the Dollar General at 5500 North Maize Road. Units with the Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office, FBI and Kansas Highway Patrol were on the scene when, according to the affidavit, they saw a dark gray Toyota Tundra with a Georgia tag stop at a nearby intersection. The driver appeared to have ear pods in “as if he was on the phone” and dropped off a man in all black clothing near the store.
“The male appeared to be a lookout, scouting for law enforcement vehicles,” the affidavit read.
The woman, meanwhile, spoke on the phone with alleged FBI agent. After the truck parked at the Dollar General, he asked her to walk to the Toyota Tundra to make the delivery, the affidavit described. The woman refused, stating that she wanted the driver to come to her vehicle like the last two times. The two began to argue, and the woman told the man she was going to leave.
After she left, the Toyota driver picked up the passenger before leaving eastbound on K-96. A deputy stopped the vehicle and took the two men into custody.
The driver was identified as 29-year-old Sai Praveen Kommana of Frisco, Texas, and the passenger as 27-year-old Krishna Bharanue Daggubati of Cummings, Georgia. Police noticed both men were using iPhones and had earbuds in their ears, according to the affidavit.
The two were then interviewed by police. Kommana denied knowing anything about a gold deal with the Sedgwick County woman, the affidavit said. He said he had nothing to do with picking up a package of gold and said he was on the phone with a friend at the time of the traffic stop.
Wichita police think the woman’s gold was transferred to overseas accounts. While being interviewed by police, the affidavit describes, Daggubati said he had a second phone “solely for sending money to other bank accounts in India.”
Law enforcement officials said they do not think the ringleader of the scheme is in the United States.
Kommana and Daggubati were each charged with a count of attempted theft by deception. Additionally, the state of Kansas is petitioning to add a charge of attempted mistreatment of an elder person to Kommana’s case.
On Dec. 23, a federal grand jury in Wichita returned an indictment charging Kommana and 27-year-old Venkateswara Reddy Chagamreddy of San Antonio, Texas, on suspicion of on one count of wire fraud conspiracy and one count of interference with commerce by threat in connection with the fraud. Court records allege Chagamreddy met with the 84-year-old woman twice — both times in August — to collect more than 50 gold coins.
The FBI is continuing the investigation into the case.
Daggubati, who has also been placed on hold with the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, entered a guilty plea and is due in court on Jan. 23. Kommana, who entered a plea of not guilty, posted his $125,000 bond on Sept. 18 and will appear in court on Jan. 20.
