An Irish national residing illegally in the United States has been ordered detained on wire fraud and conspiracy charges related to an alleged scheme to defraud homeowners in Rhode Island and Massachusetts, R.I. Acting U.S. Attorney Sara Miron Bloom has announced.

Prior to making an initial appearance in U.S. District Court on a federal criminal complaint charging him with wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud, John O’Brien, 28, had been held on an immigration detainer following his arrest by Homeland Security Investigations on March 28 for overstaying a tourist visa issued to him in 2021 that expired in October 2021.

Charging documents allege that O’Brien and others defrauded property owners by inducing them to pay for home repairs that were not needed and often not completed. O’Brien misrepresented the need for the repairs and services, as well as the qualifications of his purported construction business, Traditional Masonry & Construction.

O’Brien’s alleged fraud scheme came to the attention of law enforcement when an 83-year-old Warwick resident identified in court documents as Victim 1 contacted Warwick police to complain he had been defrauded by a contractor. Victim 1 reported that O’Brien told him that, while doing work in the neighborhood, he observed cracks in Victim 1’s foundation. O’Brien offered to professionally repair the damage to the foundation. O’Brien collected $9,500 from Victim 1.

As work proceeded, O’Brien allegedly claimed that further damage was discovered. O’Brien allegedly revised the costs for repairs and sought an additional $80,000 from the victim. A home inspector hired by the U.S. Attorney’s Office later reviewed the property and found no evidence of a need for these extensive foundation repairs. 

As described in court documents, other alleged victims have been identified who described similar interactions with O’Brien that began with initial, unsolicited recommendations for small home repairs, followed by O’Brien’s purported discovery of major repairs needed, and often a representation that the homeowner’s foundation was in urgent need of repairs.  It is estimated that this scheme has defrauded homeowners out of over $1 million.

At the time of O’Brien’s arrest, investigators allegedly seized from his vehicle hundreds of Traditional Masonry & Construction flyers, identical to the ones handed out to the victims in this case, and four binders containing quotes, contracts, and invoices for Traditional Masonry & Construction. The documents and contracts are dated between April 2024 through March 2025, and range from $300 to $205,000.  The approximate value of the contracts contained within the binders totaled nearly $2 million.

The scheme O’Brien is alleged to have been executing is becoming increasingly common throughout the United States. It has come to be known as Traveling Conman Fraud.