An indictment was unsealed today alleging that five individuals participated in a massive, complex fraud and money laundering scheme that resulted in losses of more than $27 million to over 2,000 seniors.
During a coordinated law enforcement operation in July in Los Angeles, California and Las Vegas, Nevada, about 60 federal, state and local law enforcement officials arrested four of the defendants—Zhao Wang of Henderson, Nevada; Jiandong Chen of Pomona, California; Jun Li of West Covina, California; and Xin Wang of San Gabriel, California—and searched their homes.
The fifth defendant, Youfei Gong, was arrested on April 9, 2024, at his home in San Gabriel, California and was in custody on state charges.
According to the indictment and publicly filed documents, the five defendants and their co-conspirators operated a multinational organized fraud ring targeting elderly victims throughout the United States.
The indictment said conspirators contacted victims through unsolicited pop-up ads, emails and phone calls designed to get victims to contact scam call centres in India. The conspirators used social engineering techniques to build trust with victims.
In many cases, the conspirators had victims install remote desktop software that the conspirators used to gain remote access to victims’ computers.
After building trust with a victim based on fraudulent pretences, the conspirators used technical support, government impersonation, bank impersonation and/or refund scams to induce victims to send money to other members of the conspiracy, including the five defendants charged in the indictment.
At the direction of conspirators, victims sent wire transfers or cash in express mail packages to locations throughout Southern California, Nevada and elsewhere. The defendants provided fake names and addresses corresponding with retail locations, including CVS Pharmacy locations, where packages were picked up. The defendants and co-conspirators picked up money-laden packages using fake IDs.
According to the indictment, the defendants specifically targeted elderly Americans. After receiving the victims’ money, the defendants laundered it through cryptocurrency transactions to their India-based co-conspirators.
The FBI uncovered the multinational conspiracy showing the coordination between the defendants in the United States and their India-based co-conspirators who were in direct contact with victims. Between just 2021 and 2023, agents identified approximately 2,000 victims who lost more than $27 million to the conspirators.
The indictment said the conspiracy continued through June 2024.
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