Suspected scammer charged for swindling $14K from 71-year-old WA woman
ASHFORD, Wash. - Pierce County sheriff’s deputies are warning the community of an active and sophisticated local scam network after a senior citizen was swindled out of $14,800.
According to investigators, a 71-year-old woman from Ashford, Washington was the target of the scam.
The backstory:
Probable cause documents said the scam started when the woman was prompted by a message on her computer telling her to contact Microsoft.
She called the number that was provided and was told she had been "hacked," and that she was now under investigation by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.
The victim was told to take $14,800 out of her bank account and tell the bank employees it was for a remodeling project.
The victim was then told to deposit the thousands of dollars in cash into a Bitcoin machine at an Eatonville grocery store.
"You would think that there would be red flags for any reasonable person to recognize, but what people don’t realize, and smart people get scammed as well. These scammers are so good at their job they create a significant amount of fear in you. They do their research on you, and they learn all this information about you and use it against you," said Deputy Carly Cappetto with the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office.
Documents said the victim could not figure out the Bitcoin machine, so the scammer met her in person.
"This was a very unique case in the fact that there was a physical, a real person trying to attempt to get this money from this older lady," said Cappetto.
According to investigators, the scammers told the victim not to tell her family what was happening. The document said they warned the victim that if she spoke up, her family would be under investigation too.
Dig deeper:
A day after the scammers stole thousands, they targeted the same victim, investigators said. This time they were demanding $25k.
However, the victim told her family this time, and law enforcement got involved.
Pierce County Sheriff’s Deputies set up a sting to nab the scammer when they came to pick up the cash.
According to the documents, the scammers told the victim to send pictures of the money, put it in a paper bag, and use the password "yellow" to confirm she was giving the money to the right person.
Body camera video FOX 13 Seattle obtained shows the moment the accused scammer arrives, and deputies move in and make an arrest.
What's next:
Investigators arrested 44-year-old Jingbing Xue for the crime.
In court this week, he claimed he did not know who the victim was and pleaded not guilty. A judge set his bail at $250k.
He is charged with theft and attempted theft and remains in jail.
However, investigators believe Xue is just a small part of a larger crime syndicate.
"We have a lot of evidence around this that there are more involved than just one suspect in this," said Cappetto. "We believe that there are more victims out there," she added.
The Source: Information comes from the Pierce County Sheriff's Office and original reporting by FOX 13 Seattle reporter AJ Janavel.
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