The final two arrested members of a sprawling $65 million fraud syndicate that preyed on thousands of elderly Americans have pleaded guilty in San Diego federal court, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of California announced Monday. With Friday's guilty pleas from Zetian Zhang and Chinese national Haotian Zhang - whom U.S. District Judge Todd W. Robinson ordered immediately into custody - all 25 captured defendants in the multi-state operation have now been convicted. Three others remain at large.
They defrauded seniors of $65 million. Got caught by YouTubers who pretended to be their victims Source: YouTube/Scammer Payback.Rooted in Southern California and composed largely of Chinese nationals - many of whom prosecutors say were in the U.S. illegally - the syndicate operated as the stateside muscle for India-based scam call centers. Callers overseas posed as tech support agents, bank employees, or government officials to panic elderly victims into withdrawing tens of thousands of dollars in physical cash. Victims were instructed to conceal the bills inside packages and ship them via express courier to fake names at rotating addresses across the country.
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