A Chinese national, Jiaci Liu, 35, has been sentenced to 24 months in federal prison for his role in a fraud conspiracy that targeted elderly Americans, this sentence comes on top of a prior three-month stint in state custody before the case went federal, according to an announcement from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of California.
The scam was unveiled by a 63-year-old victim from Poway who sensed something was off after engaging with the conspirators, who presented themselves as tech support, bank representatives, and even government officials, the elaborate scam led the victim to withdraw a whopping $28,000 from his bank, which he was then instructed to hand over to someone claiming to be from the U.S. Marshals Service. This ruse crumbled when the victim reported his suspicions to authorities.
Authorities arrested Liu when he attempted to collect the cash from the victim’s home. A search of his cellphone uncovered that Liu had traversed Southern California and Arizona during one week of June 2023, personally expropriating over $202,000 from elderly individuals, with one of the victims being as old as 83 years old, in a statement obtained by the U.S. Attorney's Office.
"Scamming the elderly is a reprehensible crime that robs individuals of their hard-earned savings and the dignity they deserve in their golden years," said U.S. Attorney Adam Gordon, emphasizing the egregious nature of such cons, especially when the perpetrators go to the extent of engaging face-to-face with their victims to strip them of their savings.
The San Diego Elder Justice Task Force, along with the FBI, local police departments, and other agencies played pivotal roles in the investigation, leading to Liu's conviction on charges that included conspiracy to commit wire fraud which carries a maximum penalty of thirty years and a $1 million fine, For anyone suspecting similar frauds, the National Elder Fraud Hotline is reachable at 1-833 FRAUD-11 or crimes can be reported through the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center at www.ic3.gov.
