Fraud operating since 2019 stole life savings from elderly victims, including a 97-year-old San Diego widow of a Holocaust survivor. YouTubers Pierogi from Scammer Payback and two members of Trilogy Media baited fraudsters in coordinated sting operations by posing as victims and confronting criminals on camera. Videos posted in 2020 and 2021 helped law enforcement identify Zhiyi Zhang, Dudu Chen and Huajian Chen, all named in indictments. The criminals used short-term rentals to receive packages of money and moved often to avoid detection. Zhang is linked to at least $1.8 million in losses. Homeland Security Investigations, the U.S. Attorney's Office, and IRS Criminal Investigation pursued and dismantled the organization, which laundered money for fraudulent Indian call centers targeting elderly citizens.
The YouTubers Pierogi from Scammer Payback and two members of Trilogy Media baited fraudsters in coordinated sting operations where they posed as victims and then confronted the criminals on camera, publishing the videos to their YouTube channels. Not all heroes wear capes. Some have YouTube channels, U.S. Attorney Adam Gordon said in a statement released by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of California.
According to the statement: Videos posted in 2020 and 2021 helped law enforcement identify Zhiyi Zhang, Dudu Chen and Huajian Chen. All three are named in the indictments. The videos also helped shed light on how the conspiracy operated and led to the identification of high-level members of the organization. The criminals were using short-term rentals to receive the packages of money, moving often to avoid detection. The U.S. attorney's office said that Zhang alone is linked to at least $1.8 million in losses.
This investigation dismantled a predatory criminal organization that carried out a complex fraud scheme, manipulated victims throughout the country, and cost victims their hard-earned life savings said Shawn Gibson, special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in San Diego. HSI, the United States Attorney's Office, and our law enforcement partners diligently pursued this organization to bring them to justice and help the victims that were impacted.
Collection
[
|
...
]