Police: New York man attempted to scam over $500K from Pa. woman

JEFFERSON COUNTY, Pa. (WTAJ) — A New York man is facing charges in Pennsylvania after police said he stole a 71-year-old woman’s identity.

Zhiping Lui, 44, of Flushing, NY, was charged after the victim received a call from a “potentially blocked spam” number on July 31, stating that a PlayStation 5 and limited edition headset was ordered from her Walmart account. The victim explained that she did not order the game console and wanted the purchase to be canceled.

The person on the other end of the phone, who claimed to be a Walmart employee, then did a three way call between themselves, the victim and who the employee claimed was the office of Inspector General, according to the criminal complaint.

The man at the office asked the victim if she knew anyone that lived in Albany, NY. The victim told the office that she did not live there and did not know anyone at that address.

The office told the victim that the apartment had allegedly been rented by her and someone had also rented a car in her name, which was later found in a ditch. She was then told that she was a victim of identity theft.

The victim was instructed to not tell anyone about the identity theft, not even her husband, because it could interfere with the investigation, police noted in the charges. She was then told that the office would be reaching out to her daily to ensure her safety.

On Aug. 1, the victim was contacted by a man who claimed he worked for the office of Inspector General under the name “Kressman,” who was later identified as Lui, according to the complaint. He allegedly instructed the victim to withdrawal $20,000 from her savings account and to use that money to buy BitCoin.

The victim asked Lui if she was in danger, to which he told the victim that there was blood found in the apartment in NY and that the “fraudsters” could strike again, police noted in the charges. Lui also allegedly told the victim that six people, two per shift, were watching her 24/7.

Later that day, Lui also told the victim that she needed to withdrawal $500,000 from her IRA/portfolio as a way to safeguard her her money before her social security number was suspended, according to the complaint, according to the complaint. The victim also opened a new savings account to put all said money into.

On Aug. 6, the victim was allegedly instructed by Lui to purchase $500,000 worth of 99.99 14K Gold. When the victim contacted a location to buy the gold, she was questioned on her purchases, however, she insisted.

When asked where the gold would be going, Lui told the victim that two “agents” would be picking up the gold at her home and take it to NY and then deposit it into a United State Bullion Depository in Fort Knox, Kentucky, police noted in the charges.

On Aug. 7, when the victim went to complete a wire transfer to her new bank account, she was denied. The bank told her that her account had been frozen because she was being scammed and was convinced to call the police.

Police then took over the victim’s phone and began intercepting phone calls and text messages from Lui. On Aug. 9, Lui allegedly asked for an update on the gold bars that he had requested and police, pretending to be the victim, told him that she was told to call back at a later date.

On Aug. 12, police messaged Lui, via the victim’s phone, telling him that she had picked up the gold and wanted to know where they were going to meet for the exchange. Lui allegedly told police to go to a parking lot for the pickup and to advise him when they arrived, according to the complaint,.

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The two agreed to meet the next day instead in a hotel parking lot. Police arrived before Lui and set up station in the hotel as well as across the street. When Lui didn’t arrive on time, Police began messaging him, as the victim, telling him that they were going to leave because the victim’s son was going to get concerned on her whereabouts, police noted in the charges.

Lui then arrived at the hotel and approached the officer’s car. He was then apprehended and taken into custody without incident.

In total, the victim lost $24,887.50, however, the attempted amount of theft was $521,575.97.

Lui is now in the Jefferson County Prison after being denied bail. He is currently facing a felony charge of theft extortion and a felony charge of criminal conspiracy aiding. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Aug. 22.

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