Man from China accused of scamming Aliquippa woman out of hundreds of thousands of dollars
A man from China, living in the United States, has been charged in a massive scam involving a woman from Aliquippa. Police say she was scammed out of hundreds of thousands.
Police said there was also a second victim in Beaver County. That resident went to New Sewickley Township Police on Sept. 5, reporting that they were scammed the previous day.
"They reported that they had a pop-up appear on their computer screen and instructed them to call Microsoft support," New Sewickley Township Police Chief Greg Carney said.
He said the scam victim was kept on the phone for nearly eight hours.
"They were instructed to do some different things with the computer so that it would be unlocked," Carney said. "They were then told that they had to pay for subscription fees and services to unlock the computer."
Police said the scammer instructed the victim to go to the bank and take out nearly $25,000 in cash. The victim was then told a federal agent would show up at their house to collect the fees.
"Shortly after arriving at home… an individual did show up, and we later identified him as Mr. Chen," Carney said.
State police set up an undercover operation and arrested 31-year-old Xinhua Chen of China.
"Our victim was able to pick Mr. Chen as the individual who had been in her house," Carney said. "I know ICE has a detainer on him right now."
Chen is also accused of scamming a woman out of nearly $300,000 in Aliquippa. He is facing multiple charges, including theft by extortion and theft by deception.
Carney said normally scams like this would involve credit cards or gift cards, not somebody showing up at a home to collect money.
"If somebody's showing up at your house to collect cash, it needs to be for service," he said, adding that's not something law enforcement would do.
If you think you've been scammed, Carney says call your local police department.
Chen is currently in the Beaver County Jail.
Chief Carney said once proceedings in Pennsylvania are complete, he expects that Chen will be extradited to Texas, where he's going to face charges for similar instances.