Long-time fugitive admits to orchestrating mail fraud scheme defrauding elderly and vulnerable victims of over $10 million

Date: August 6, 2025

Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov

NEWARK, N.J. – A German man admitted today to orchestrating a massive mail fraud scheme targeting elderly and otherwise vulnerable victims with false and fraudulent psychic solicitations, Acting U.S. Attorney Alina Habba announced today.

Georg Ingenbleek, a citizen of Germany, was indicted in 2020 and has been a fugitive. He was apprehended in Bolzano, Italy in 2024 and extradited in May 2025 to face an indictment charging him with two counts of mail fraud. Ingenbleek pleaded guilty today before U.S. District Judge Claire C. Cecchi to two counts of mail fraud.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

From at least 2011 through 2016, Ingenbleek created numerous direct mail solicitations supposedly from world-renowned psychics, falsely and fraudulently claiming to offer recipients individual psychic services and objects that would result in great fortune. Many of the letters falsely promised that the psychic services being offered were free of charge. Ingenbleek directed co-conspirators to send fraudulent billing notices to the same victims that stated that the victims owed money for psychic services, which in many cases had been offered free of charge. The fraudulent billing notices falsely represented that the victims owed fees and threatened to take legal action if the victim did not send a check, usually for $20 to $50. Through his fraudulent psychic mailing campaign, Ingenbleek obtained more than $10 million dollars from victims.

The mail fraud charges each carry a maximum potential penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense. Sentencing is scheduled for December 17, 2025 at 10:30 A.M.

Acting U.S. Attorney Habba credited special agents of IRS - Criminal Investigation Newark Field Office, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Jenifer Piovesan; postal inspectors of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service Philadelphia Division, under the direction of Inspector in Charge Christopher A. Nielsen; and special agents of HSI New York, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Ricky J. Patel, with the investigation leading to the charges, and HSI Rome and the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs for providing significant assistance in securing the defendant’s extradition from Italy.

The government is represented by Assistant United States Attorneys Jonathan Fayer and Olta Bejleri of the Economic Crimes Unit in Newark.

IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) is the law enforcement arm of the IRS, responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money laundering, public corruption, healthcare fraud, identity theft and more. IRS-CI special agents are the only federal law enforcement agents with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code, obtaining a 90% federal conviction rate. The agency has 19 field offices located across the U.S. and 14 attaché posts abroad.