A man listing a Covina, California address charged with participating in a scam to cheat an 86-year-old Mountain Home woman out of thousands of dollars appeared during a session of Baxter County Circuit Court/Criminal Division on Monday.
Thirty-one-year-old Wenyuan Song’s appearance was cut short because he claimed he is only fluent in Mandarin Chinese so it will be necessary to have an interpreter with him during his next appearance.
Mandarin varieties are spoken by about 70 percent of all Chinese speakers.
On May 23, a criminal investigator with the Baxter County Sheriff’s office met with the victim at her home along Harold Place. She told the investigator that in late February her computer began to malfunction and a notice appeared on her screen telling her to call Microsoft at a certain number.
When she called the number, she spoke to a man calling himself “Jack.” She reported speaking to “Jack” several times between February 28 and March 13.
Investigators believe that “Jack” used these calls to gain the woman’s trust.
Jack eventually told the victim that hackers were attempting to steal her money.
Investigators say “Jack” basically convinced the victim that the hackers could be her neighbors, people at her bank or even people who attend her church. He said she needed to “isolate” and put her trust in him to work the problem out for her.
Because of the hacker threat, “Jack” told the victim that her money would only be safe if it was placed in “the Federal Reserve Bank.”
The victim closed her savings account and drew out $33,000. “Jack told her that he would send a courier from the “Federal Reserve Bank” to her home to pick up the money. Monday, March 17 was set as the pick-up date.
A male Asian, described by the victim as just under six feet tall, broad shouldered and “almost stocky” came to her residence on the appointed day.
When the male arrived, the victim was reported to be on the telephone with “Jack.” The courier was to give the victim a codeword, sunset, to attest to his bona-fides.
Once the man had used the correct codeword, the victim handed him the money and he was reported to have left the area walking south to a gray-colored SUV parked approximately 200 yards from the victim’s home.
“Jack” was reported to have stayed in touch with the victim over the next few weeks and was able to obtain information that the woman had an investment account. “Jack” told the victim she needed to close out that account and place the money in the “Federal Reserve Bank” as had been done with money from the savings account .
The victim did as she was told and a May 16 date was set for the courier from the “Federal Reserve Bank” to visit and take charge of the cash.
The person identifying himself as the courier arrived was scheduled. He was also an Asian male. The victim said the second courier was medium height and closer to slender in build that the first one had been.
She said he also seemed “unsure of himself” and that she got the impression the person he was talking to on the phone was spelling the code word sunset for him. She said the second courier would spell the codeword but did not say it.
The victim eventually gave the second courier the money.
On both occasions, “Jack” had required the victim to photograph the money and send the pictures to him.
After the second fake bank courier got the cash, he was reported to have left the residence, walked down the victim’s street for a distance, turned on William Drive and walked out of view.
On June 10, local investigators were informed of a similar scam that had taken place in Eureka Springs/Holiday Island area of Carroll County.
In the Carroll County case, the victim was attempting to cancel his subscription to Norton VPN LifeLock.
He told investigators he had received an invoice from Norton for $299.99. He was then contacted by a person claiming to be a Norton Representative who told him $300 had already been charged to his account and he was due a refund.
He was directed to a website where he was asked to enter the refund amount.
After he entered $300, the fraudster told him he had accidentally entered $30,000 and needed to repay the overage of $29,700 to avoid an 18 percent tax penalty.
The scammers broke into the victim’s computer and had it display a manipulated bank webpage showing the “mistaken” deposit of $30,000.
The victim took $29,700 from his safety deposit box. He did as instructed and took a picture of himself and the money and provided it to the fraudster.
An “agent” came to the victim’s house and took the money.
The scammers contacted the victim the next day and said another “accidental deposit of $29,500 had been made and told the victim to get the money in cash and an agent would come to his home and pick it up. The victim complied.
The fraudsters tried to scam the victim a third time telling him a $40,000 accidental deposit had been made and that he should return $38,000 and keep $2,000 but third time did not prove to be charm for the scammers.
An employee at the victim’s bank had become suspicious of the activity and advised the victim not to do anything else until he had reported the matter to law enforcement.
The bank allowed Carroll County investigators temporary use of $38,000 of the bank’s money to take a picture of the victim and the money as the scammer had instructed.
The scammer told the victim someone would come to his house within two hours to collect the cash.
Carroll County Sheriff’s deputies set up a trap for the courier. One deputy was staged inside the victim’s residence, and two other deputies were at different locations around the home.
When Song arrived, he was arrested. When he was asked what he was doing at the victim’s house, he is reported to have said he was “just looking around.”
After being read his Miranda Rights, Song refused to make any statements.
The United States Department of Homeland Security went to the Baxter County victim with a six-picture lineup that included Song.
The victim identified Song as the courier who had come to her home on May 16.
Song had used a gray Mazda 3 to travel in Arkansas. The vehicle was found to have been rented at the Dallas-Fort Worth airport on May 12.
Search warrants were prepared and served on the Hertz Corporation to obtain GPS and other data from the vehicle.
After the information was reviewed, it showed the Mazda 3 had been near the Baxter County victim’s home when he was alleged to have picked up money.
The bond for Song is set at $75,000 cash in Baxter County and he has posted a $100,000 bond in Carroll County.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has a hold on Song.
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