11 plead guilty in $65 million elder fraud and money laundering scheme

SAN DIEGO (CN) — Eleven people pleaded guilty in federal court on Tuesday to their involvement in a $65 million multinational money laundering scheme that targeted elderly victims across the U.S.

Lead defendant Hua Wang, 48, spearheaded the money laundering scheme that involved more than two dozen co-defendants across the U.S., according to a press release from the Department of Justice.

The criminal network began in 2019 and was rooted in Southern California where the fraudsters, primarily Chinese nationals in the U.S. illegally, worked closely with scam call centers based in India, according to the Justice Department. The scammers posed as technical support agents, government officials and bank employees in an effort to steal money from unsuspecting elderly victims.

The scammers would use social engineering tactics to build trust with their victims, an indictment of Wang says. They would often contact the victims via phone or email and then instruct them to download commercially available software so they could access the victims’ devices remotely, according to the indictment.

The Justice Department said the victims were instructed to withdraw bulk cash they would conceal in packages and then send via mail carriers to addresses associated with short-term rental locations and names associated with fake IDs.

The defendants who pleaded guilty admitted they used a “hub-and-spoke” pattern to book short-term rentals, reserving one location for a week as a central hub while booking nearby properties for shorter stays where members of the conspiracy picked up packages of cash.

One elderly victim who contacted a mail carrier after being defrauded in December 2020 led to the discovery of 11 packages that contained about $135,000 in cash, the Justice Department said. Each of the packages was addressed to a fake name and a short-term rental location in San Diego.

The investigation into the nationwide fraud ring began after that discovery.

Wang admitted he participated in the fraud scheme between 2019 and 2023 and was responsible for more than 2,000 cash packages, each sent by an elderly victim, and $64 million in stolen funds.

Wang was arrested at his residence in Flushing, New York, shortly after his codefendant Weining Su was arrested at JFK International Airport while attempting to board a one-way flight to China, the Justice Department said. After Wang’s arrest, federal agents across the country coordinated a sweeping takedown of the fraud scheme, including arrests in Southern California, Texas, Michigan and New York, resulting in charges against more than 30 defendants in related indictments.

Authorities said they were aided by several YouTube videos posted in 2020 and 2021 that helped identify other members of the conspiracy and uncover the structure of the fraud, including the YouTuber Pierogi from “Scammer Payback” and two other YouTubers from “Trilogy Media.” The YouTubers reportedly coordinated sting operations to bait the scammers and then confronted them on camera before publishing the videos on their YouTube channels.

In addition to helping indict three of the defendants, the videos also helped shed light on the operations of the fraud and helped identify high-level members of the organization, the Justice Department said.

After defrauding their victims, the members of the conspiracy also laundered the cash.

Wang is awaiting a sentencing hearing on Sept. 18, 2026, before U.S. District Judge Todd Robinson, a Donald Trump appointee. More than a dozen other people are also scheduled to be sentenced throughout the summer.