NEW YORK — A leader in an India-based scam that scared American taxpayers into sending millions of dollars because they thought the U.S. government was after them was sentenced Wednesday to more than 14 years in prison by a judge who said he wanted to send a message to others considering similar crimes.

Sahil Patel, 36, sobbed as he apologized for his crimes before he was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein for conspiring to extort, to impersonate government officials and to commit wire fraud.

The Manhattan judge said he needed to impose a “very serious sentence” to ensure adequate deterrence.

“The nature of this crime robbed people of their identities and their money in a way that causes people to feel they have been almost destroyed,” the judge said.

Patel, of Tatamy, Pennsylvania, also must forfeit $1 million for crimes that stretched from December 2011 until his December 2013 arrest.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Adams told the judge the fraud was “perfectly designed” to manipulate financially distressed people who would fear arrest threats.

“This man preyed on hundreds of people who were particularly vulnerable,” Adams said.

Prosecutors said in court papers that callers in India impersonated law enforcement officials, sometimes threatening victims with financial penalties and arrest, and used an Internet-based calling service that made it appear the incoming phone numbers came from the FBI or the Manhattan federal prosecutor’s office.