ENGLEWOOD, Tenn. — A 26-year-old man from Florida, identified as Ziyi Lu of Coral Springs, has been arrested in connection with a financial scam targeting a resident in McMinn County, Tennessee.
According to McMinn County Sheriff Joe Guy, deputies took Lu into custody on Tuesday following a report from a concerned resident in the Zion Hill subdivision near Englewood.
The situation unfolded when the resident’s wife received a disturbing phone call from someone posing as a federal agent. The caller demanded $12,000 to allegedly clear a fabricated legal issue, pressuring her to withdraw the money and deposit it into an ATM.
Sheriff Guy recounted, “The resident sounded very frustrated and asked me to come to his residence and help him with his distraught wife.” Upon arriving, the sheriff listened in on the call, where the impersonator instructed the woman to ignore any bank employee’s advice and to send photos of the withdrawn cash.
Sheriff Guy quickly identified the situation as a scam and intervened before any money was lost. Authorities later traced the scam to Ziyi Lu, who was then arrested and is now facing criminal charges related to the incident.
