Two men from Washington were arrested Tuesday, Feb. 4, after allegedly trying to scam an Albany resident.
According to Albany police, an Albany resident reported to police on Monday, Feb. 3, that sometime around Christmas 2024, he believed he picked a virus up on his phone from advertisements on the Solitaire app he uses.
After clicking on a link, he started receiving calls from a “Chris Wilson”, a purported employee from PayPal who was attempting to notify him that his personal information had been compromised.
The victim was later connected to other people, “Eddy Cooper” and “Mack Jones,” who claimed to work for Edward Jones’ financial department and advised the victim that he had “been hacked into” for $37,500. The suspect convinced the victim that he needed to deposit an equal amount of money from what was taken to “mirror” the amount taken so that the transaction could be voided.
The victim was instructed to take $10,000 to a Bitcoin Depot Kiosk. “Mack” had set up a Bitcoin account for him where he could scan the code on the kiosk to input and he deposited $10,000 while on the phone with “Mack.” The victim was advised to have the remaining balance at his residence to be picked up by a courier to complete the transaction.
At this point the victim became suspicious and contacted the Albany Police Department. Officers and detectives worked quickly with the victim to arrange a sting for the suspects for the following day, Tuesday, Feb. 4.
At the arranged time, a white 2015 BMW X5, with a Washington license plate CFT9253, arrived in the area, with the two suspects inside. An Asian male adult, known as “Tom” arrived to pick up the money. He provided the “passcode” to the undercover officer who verified the passcode. “Tom,” later identified as Yong Xue, was quickly taken into custody after a short foot pursuit.
The suspects are Chinese nationals and the Chinese Consulate was notified. The FBI and Assistant United States Attorney were contacted and are assisting in the investigation.
The two suspects, identified as “Tom” Young Xue, 32, of Tacoma, Wash., and Zhen He, 36, also of Tacoma, were lodged in Linn County Jail and both charged with conspiracy to commit first-degree theft.
Albany police believe the two individuals could be involved in more fraud cases and are asking anyone who recognizes one or both individuals as connected with similar interactions to contact Albany Police Department at (541) 917-7680.
Scammers have bilked victims worldwide out of $1.03 trillion in the past year, according to the 2024 Global State of Scams report and scams are often underreported because people are too embarrassed or ashamed to report they are a victim of a scam.