A Chinese national and ringleader of a $27 million money laundering operation that targeted around 2,000 elderly Americans was sentenced to 12 years and 7 months in prison by a federal court on Friday, according to a statement from the Department of Justice (DOJ).
Zhao Wang, aka “Oscar,” and four other defendants “operated a series of technical support, bank impersonation and government impersonation, and refund scams targeting elderly victims,” the DOJ said on May 8.
“Victims received unsolicited phone calls, emails, and pop-up ads directing victims to call a phone number. Unbeknownst to the victims, those phone numbers belonged to India-based scam call centers.”
The scammers used social engineering techniques to build trust with victims. They had the victims download remote desktop software, which was used to access victims’ computers to carry on the scams….