$65 Million Fraud Ring Targeting Seniors Dismantled: 28 Alleged Members of a Chinese Organized Crime Ring Charged
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of California announced in August 2025 the dismantling of a Chinese organized crime ring rooted in Southern California: 28 defendants were charged in four federal indictments with conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering. In a weeklong nationwide takedown across California, New York, Texas and Michigan, agents arrested 25 defendants, seized more than $4.2 million from financial accounts, and took luxury vehicles including a 2022 Mercedes-Benz G63 and a 2024 Porsche Panamera. Prosecutors say the scheme, running since at least 2019, defrauded thousands of seniors of $65 million, including a 97-year-old San Diego widow of a Holocaust survivor who lost her entire life savings.
According to court records, the network worked closely with scam call centers in India. Callers posed as tech support agents, government officials or bank employees, used scripted lies and psychological manipulation to win trust and often remote access to victims' computers, and most commonly convinced victims they had received a mistaken refund and pressured them to return the excess by wire transfer, cash or gift cards. Cash was mailed in packages to short-term rentals held under fake names, where ring members collected the proceeds.
Videos published in 2020 and 2021 by YouTubers Pierogi of 'Scammer Payback' and Trilogy Media, who baited and confronted the fraudsters on camera, helped investigators identify members including Zhiyi Zhang, who alone is linked to at least $1.8 million in losses and was arrested on August 19, 2025, at Los Angeles International Airport.
On April 2, 2026, IRS Criminal Investigation announced that defendant Ziyue Zhao, also known as Chris Zhao, had pleaded guilty, the first of the 28 defendants to do so. His plea agreement states that between February 2020 and March 2021 alone the organization received approximately 1,269 victim packages averaging about $14,000 each, an estimated $17,776,000 in losses during that period; his sentencing was set for June 23, 2026. The charges in an indictment are merely accusations, and defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：圣迭戈市中心天际线（资料图）。图片：JDrewes，CC BY-SA 3.0，取自 Wikimedia Commons
- 2026-04-02$65 Million Fraud Ring Targeting Seniors Dismantled: 28 Alleged Members of a Chinese Organized Crime Ring ChargedThis story
- 2026-10-26Follow-Up: Final Two Defendants Plead Guilty in $65 Million Fraud Ring Targeting Seniors: All 25 Arrested Defendants Have Now Pleaded Guilty, Three Fugitives Remain
