(WWJ) A man from China has been charged in Michigan in connection with a scam involving gold coins, and a woman's life savings.
The Allegan County Sheriff’s Office says an elderly Allegan County resident was defrauded of nearly $500,000 after falling victim to a caller impersonating a Federal Trade Commission official.
According to investigators, this all started when a scammer made a phone call to the victim claiming her identity had been stolen, and threatened that her family's identities were also at risk.
The caller had a lot of personal details, which helped to convince the woman that this was a legitimate call.
Officials said the woman was persuaded to liquidate her retirement and savings accounts, making multiple wire transfers and giving $237,000 in gold coins directly to couriers at her home.
In June of this year, investigators were made aware of the scam when a courier was set to come in person to collect another $60,000 in cash from the victim.
Detectives from both the Allegan County and Kent County Sheriff’s Offices set up an undercover sting operation at the victim's home, supported by aerial drones, plainclothes officers, and staged patrol units nearby.
When the courier arrived on June 18, he provided a dollar bill with a serial number matching a specific code given to the victim by the scammers. Immediately following the exchange, law enforcement moved in and arrested the suspect.
He has since been identified as 24-year-old Xiangbo Sun, a Chinese national in the U.S. on a tourist visa, according to the sheriff's office.
Sun had hired a Lyft driver to transport him from Chicago's O'Hare Airport to Allegan County and was scheduled to fly out of Grand Rapids to New York after collecting a fee for the pickup, officials said.
Cell phone records and data revealed that Sun had been in the country since late May and was allegedly connected to over $1 million in fraudulent cash and gold pickups across the U.S.
Allegan County detectives shared this intelligence with local jurisdictions nationwide, leading to arrest warrants in at least two other states.
Sun is currently held in the Allegan County Jail on charges of Larceny by False Pretense between $50,000 and $100,000, while police continue investigating additional suspects linked to the earlier gold pickups.
Officials say an Allegan County woman was defrauded of nearly $500K
Officials say an Allegan County woman was defrauded of nearly $500K
