PROVIDENCE, R.I. — A Chinese national living in Massachusetts is among two people who have pleaded guilty to running a transnational fraud and money laundering scheme targeting elderly victims in the United States and Canada.
Fangzheng Wang, 25, of Westborough, Massachusetts, a Chinese national, and Cynthia Jia Sun, 25, of Houston, Texas, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in China, pleaded guilty in federal court in Rhode Island to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, U.S. Attorney Charles Calenda said in a statement.
Wang and Sun are both scheduled to be sentenced on July 8.
According to court documents, Wang and Sun were part of a transnational fraud scheme targeting elderly victims in the U.S. and Canada.
Hundreds of elderly people were defrauded through the scheme, with more than $5 million in losses reported, prosecutors said.
Members of the conspiracy used pop-up messages and telephone calls falsely claiming that the victims’ financial accounts had been compromised or were at risk, Calenda said.
The pop-up message directed victims to call a “live agent,” who informed them that their financial assets were at risk or could be garnished, but that the agent could assist in protecting them.
During a series of calls, victims were connected with other persons who falsely claimed to be “representatives” of the victim’s financial institutions and/or government agencies, including the Federal Trade Commission and Federal Reserve Bank.
Those “representatives” were, in fact, members of the conspiracy, Calenda said. Some victims were told to transfer their funds via wire transfers and cryptocurrency into accounts controlled by conspiracy members.
Other victims were directed to withdraw cash or purchase gold bars with withdrawn cash and provide the cash or gold bars to a purported government courier, after being told that the courier would transfer the cash or gold to a secure government location until the issue with the victims’ accounts was resolved.
Wang and Sun participated in the scheme by communicating with and coordinating with others to pick up cash and gold from victims, traveling to the victims’ homes. They would then transfer the cash and gold to other members of the conspiracy.
At the time of the indictment, law enforcement had identified approximately 300 people in at least 37 states, including several in Rhode Island, who had been defrauded.
To date, victims of the conspiracy group of which Wang and Sun were members are estimated to have suffered known losses exceeding $5 million.
However, investigators have identified a bank account through which approximately $16 million in additional suspected fraud funds appear to have been laundered.
For the charge of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, Wang and Sun each face a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison, followed by a term of supervised release, and a fine of up to $250,000.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
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