A 22-year-old Chicago man was arrested in a police sting operation in Illinois after he was found to be involved in a scam in which a resident of Paw Paw (village in Illinois) lost $40,000 last month. Parth C. Patel has been charged with theft by deception and attempted theft by deception following a Lee County Sheriff’s Office investigation into an alleged scam.The victim was first contacted by someone claiming that his Apple account had been “hacked.” The caller then transferred the victim to a man posing as an FBI agent, who said he needed money to help catch the alleged ‘hacker’.The Paw Paw resident agreed to hand over $40,000 in cash. The money was collected from an address in the village by an unknown person on April 17.The scam did not end here. The fake FBI agent later contacted the victim again and asked for another $28,500.The police came to know about the incident and started investigation. Detectives arranged a controlled cash pickup for Monday after asking the victim to provide additional funds. The operation resulted in Patel being arrested when he arrived to collect the cash. He was taken into custody and booked into the Lee County Jail.Patel is charged with theft by deception involving between $10,000 and $100,000, a Class 2 felony under Illinois law, as well as attempted theft by deception involving a similar amount, which is a Class 3 felony.Patel appeared before a judge and was released pending further court proceedings under Illinois’ pretrial release law. The case was to be heard on May 21.