A 20-year-old man from Hong Kong, who is currently residing in California on a student visa, has been arrested after he attempted to steal thousands of dollars from a Lorain County man earlier this week.
On Aug. 22, the daughter-in-law of the 69-year-old man Lorain County man overheard him discussing a monetary transaction over the phone while he was also putting a large sum of money into a box, according to the Lorain County Sheriff's Office.
After believing her father-in-law was being scammed, the woman reached out to police. The victim explained to officials that he received a notification on his computer that he had been hacked and was instructed to call a number.
The individual the man called allegedly posed as an employee of the IRS and instructed the man to gather $26,000 from his accounts and place it in a box to prepare it for pick up by a United States Deputy Marshall the next day to protect it from fraud.
According to police, officers advised the man to return the money to a safe place and instead fill the box with paper and wrap it with Christmas gift wrap. The box then became a decoy to catch the persons behind the scam.
The next day, police say the victim received communication from someone claiming to be from the United States Marshals Service stating that the $26,000 needed to be paid or the victim would be arrested. The suspect wanted to meet at the victim's house to retrieve the money after he caught a flight from California to Cleveland on the morning of Aug. 23.
Officers with the Lorain County Sheriff's Office arrived at the victim's home prior to the time the suspect specified he would arrive to pick up the money. Officers created a perimeter in neighboring driveways, and an officer also waited inside the home.
According to police, around 10:45 a.m., the suspect arrived at the home, and the victim met him outside near the rear of the home, giving him the box full of paper. Police determined the suspect arrived and tried to leave in a car provided by a rideshare service. Officers surrounded the car before the driver of the rideshare could get very far, arresting the suspect. The driver was questioned before being allowed to leave.
During his interview with police, the suspect stated that the victim would have been the 7th person scammed out of thousands of dollars by the suspect and other individuals the suspect claimed to be working with in California, police say.
The suspect has been charged with felony charges including theft, telecommunications fraud, complicity, impersonating a federal officer and receiving stolen property.
According to police, the crimes the suspect admitted to previously committing will be investigated in hopes of finding restitution for the victims.
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