Twenty-eight alleged members of a Chinese organized crime ring have been charged with participating in a $65 million fraud scheme targeting seniors across the United States, including a 97-year-old widow of a Holocaust survivor in San Diego.
She lost all of her life savings to the scam.
Following a nationwide operation spanning California, New York, Texas, and Michigan, 25 of the defendants have been arrested. The charges include conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering, the Department of Justice announced this week.
The criminal network, operating since at least 2019 and primarily composed of Chinese nationals, collaborated with India-based scam call centers. These centers posed as technical support agents, government officials, or bank employees to deceive victims, the DOJ said.
The scam involved convincing victims they had received a mistaken refund and pressuring them to return the supposed excess funds through wire transfers, cash, or gift cards. In some cases, the alleged scammers took control of the victims’ computers.
YouTuber Pierogi from “Scammer Payback” and two other people from Trilogy Media helped to expose the fraud.
Their videos helped identify alleged key members of the conspiracy, including Zhiyi Zhang. who was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport. He is linked to at least $1.8 million in losses, the DOJ said.
As part of the sting, Pierogi was told to send a package of cash to a person in San Francisco. A decoy package was delivered by members of Trilogy Media who confronted the person who was picking it up. That person identified himself as Zhang and admitted on camera to receiving packages for money, the DOJ said.
The YouTube personalities gave the video footage they recorded to law enforcement, who verified Zhang’s identity.
“Not all heroes wear capes. Some have YouTube channels,” said U.S. Attorney Adam Gordon.
“This investigation dismantled a predatory criminal organization that carried out a complex fraud scheme,” said Shawn Gibson, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations San Diego.
Federal agents from Homeland Security Investigations, the FBI, and IRS-Criminal Investigations executed more than a dozen search and seizure warrants, resulting in the confiscation of over $4.2 million and several luxury vehicles, according to the DOJ.
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