Eleven people were arrested for stealing elderly people’s identities then use the information to get loans in Southern California, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Thursday.

Federal authorities said the suspects first used victim’s personal information to get their hands on title reports for the victim’s homes. Then using the elderly victim’s properties as collateral, the suspects tried to obtain or successfully received loans, the DOJ alleged.

The suspects are also accused of fabricating a number of financial documents, such as bank statements, rental agreements, doctor’s notes and death certificates. They also managed to get them fraudulently notarized, federal authorities said.

“Our agents traced every wire, every transfer, and every shell account to expose the financial backbone of this conspiracy,” said Tyler Hatcher, Special Agent in Charge, IRS-CI Los Angeles Field Office.

The victims’ properties are located in Santa monica, Hollywood, Hollywood Hills, Westwood and Chinatown.

The suspects are believed to have taken about $6 million from their victims after trying to steal $17.4 million from them, the DOJ said.

The suspects were arrested Thursday morning and set to be arraigned in federal court.

Nazaret Chakrian, 65, a.k.a. “Niko,” of Hollywood

Arnold Moradians, 57, a.k.a. “Julian,” of Hollywood. Moradians is an Iranian national who has an outstanding warrant for removal from the United States, the DOJ said.

Avetis Hekimyan, 38, a.k.a. “Chef Avo,” of North Hollywood

Ross Tarkhan, 32, of Glendale

Tigran Hovanesian, 56, of Glendale

Armen Vardevaryan, 55, a.k.a. “Gonch,” of North Hollywood

Craig Higdon, 66, of Naples, Florida

Helen Spangler, 62, of Oakdale, California

Victor Lossi, 43, of Thousand Oaks

Marine Sarkisian, 49, of Hollywood

Cynthia Borjas, 51, of Koreatown

The suspects are facing the charges of wire fraud, identity theft, money laundering and others.

If convicted, the defendants would face a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison for each fraud- and money laundering-related count, and a mandatory consecutive sentence of two years in federal prison for the aggravated identity theft count, according to the DOJ.