Illinois man jailed in La Crosse for internet scheme that reportedly took $80,000 from local victim

La Crosse County is charging a 21-year-old man with theft and money laundering, for allegedly swindling an older man out of more than $80,000.

A court hearing is scheduled Tuesday for Anas Vohra of the Chicago area, who’s accused of posing as an employee of Microsoft, to trick the victim into paying him large amounts of cash and gift cards after sending messages to the man’s laptop computer.

The messages included a phone number, and the victim was instructed to buy gift cards and make large cash withdrawals from the bank, to clear up a supposed case of bank fraud affecting his accounts. The older man was told to deliver the cash to people who would meet him at the Diocese of La Crosse office, where he worked.

The payments demanded of the victim rose as high as $30,000. Those incidents happened last fall. Vohra was arrested and taken to the La Crosse jail earlier this month, and he is being held there without bond. He claims somebody in India told him to collect money from elderly victims.