Five Chinese nationals have been arrested in Southern California and Nevada for their alleged involvement in a “massive” multinational fraud scheme that defrauded over 2,000 seniors, resulting in losses exceeding $27 million from 2021 to 2023.
The arrests, conducted by the Department of Justice (DOJ), involved a coordinated operation with 60 officials from federal, state, and local agencies. The defendants include Zhao Wang of Henderson, Nevada, and California residents Jiandong Chen, Jun Li, and Xin Wang, who were arrested on Wednesday. Youfei Gong, the fifth defendant, was taken into custody in April at his home in San Gabriel, California.
Court documents reveal that the operation targeted victims through emails, phone calls, and pop-up ads, encouraging them to contact scam call centers located in India. Once trust was established with victims under false pretenses, the conspirators employed various scams, including technical support, government impersonation, bank impersonation, and refund schemes, to induce victims to send money to other members of the conspiracy, including the five defendants charged in the indictment.
Victims reportedly sent wire transfers and packages containing cash to the defendants. Investigators uncovered a text from defendant Xin Wang, which stated, “What I do is picking up packages from CVS with a fake ID. [The packages] contain cash. Laundering money for Indian scam syndicate(s)… My bosses launder over one million US dollars in a week.”
The men face charges of mail and wire fraud, as well as money laundering. The U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Southern District of California has been proactive in combating elder fraud, which the FBI reported resulted in $3.4 billion in losses last year.
In June, authorities announced that more than $3.3 million linked to cyber fraud targeting the elderly had been seized in 2024. Additionally, a May investigation by the San Diego Elder Justice Task Force led to the indictment of a man accused of stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from victims, primarily through tech support scams.
