We all have a story of helping an older friend or relative figure out whether a message they received is real. The texts and spam calls seem to come almost every week, with varying degrees of believability. But there’s a reason why they keep coming: The scams don’t often work, but it’s a volume game, they can be highly profitable for fraudsters when they do. In this week’s The Rabbit Hole, reporter Gabrielle Russon tells the tale of how a group of scammers allegedly made off with millions, and how a few of them ended up in a Florida courtroom. - Peter
An 82-year-old woman was playing online solitaire when the game was interrupted by a loud siren wailing. A warning popped up on the computer screen with a frightening message: She had been hacked.
What should she do?
The senior citizen, identified only as “M.B.” in court records, was stuck. She could not close out the pop-up advertisement stuck on her screen. The ad warned that all her data would be lost if she shut off her computer.
The ad displayed a help number.
“Microsoft,” said the voice when M.B. called the phone number.
M.B. was transferred to a technician who promised to fix her computer. The tech confirmed her computer had been hacked and said $66,000 in online porn charges were pending from her account.
The “technician” transferred her to a “bank employee” in the fraud department to assist her in transferring her money to a Florida construction company to protect the rest of her assets.
“M.B. became hesitant because it sounded like she was being scammed,” court records said.
But the bank employee who generously spent all day on the phone with her assured her by saying, “We’re in this together” and “You’re helping catch the bad guys,” court records said.
Instead, federal authorities said she got caught in an elaborate scam that tricked senior citizens across the country into losing thousands of dollars. More than 29 victims lost at least $2.2 million that was quickly wired overseas to Hong Kong and Bahrain, according to a federal complaint filed last month in the Middle District of Florida.
Text message picture of cash taken from a elder fraud victim sent between two alleged scammers. Source: U.S. v. Patel, Western District of New York, 26-mj-615
The defendants facing conspiracy to commit mail fraud charges were Ling Wang, Shouxin Lou, Xiaowei Lin, Huashan Lu, Yuxiang Zhao and Yongbo Li, according to the federal complaint.
The complaint does not state whether the defendants are U.S. citizens, but court documents show a Mandarin translator was needed for court proceedings.
M.B. was one of the lucky ones. Her bank reversed her $83,150 wire transfer, so she got her money back after her nightmarish Solitaire game.
For one victim in her 70s, an Amazon package arrived at her home carrying earbuds she had never ordered. After that, the senior was informed her Amazon account was frozen. She spoke on the phone with someone who said her accounts had been compromised and were linked to money laundering, the federal complaint said.
Another victim, an 87-year-old man, ended up giving out his Social Security number and driver’s license under the guise that he was getting a refund for his computer McAfee Security subscription.
One 74-year-old who appeared to have dementia was confused and did not think she was a victim at all.
Other seniors, including an 80-year-old U.S. Army veteran, got confused by fake Amazon or Apple pop-up messages on their computers or Apple TV, so they called the phone number. The fraudsters posed as government officials, pretending the victims had their identities stolen and were now caught up in wild criminal scandals.
One senior from McHenry, Illinois, withdrew $49,500—her life savings—and mailed a cashier’s check to Florida because she thought she was a victim of porn fraud, the federal complaint said.
Elder Fraud Crime Reported, Source: FBI Internet Crime Report https://www.ic3.gov/AnnualReport/Reports/2025_IC3Report.pdf
The Postal Inspection Service intervened and caught the parcel in time—a bright spot in the case.
Others lost their retirement savings and “are past the point of being able to recover financially from these losses,” the complaint said.
“The whole targeting of seniors in the U.S. has become very, very common,” said Marie Springer, an adjunct associate professor who teaches about fraud at John Jay College of Criminal Justice.
Springer first began tracking Ponzi schemes when she was finishing her Master’s degree and Bernie Madoff was in the news. Since then, her research has expanded, and she pays attention to other fraud, including schemes targeting seniors.
It’s grown so much, “it makes my brain want to explode,” she quipped.
A 2025 FBI Internet crimes report said the number of online elder fraud abuse complaints rose to nearly 202,000 last year, a 37% increase from 2024. Those 60 and up lost $7.7 billion, another staggering increase of 59% compared to 2024.
The internet makes it easy for international fraudsters to buy lists targeting seniors’ names, Springer said.
The federal complaint detailed how the organized group operated: one person based abroad would apparently talk to the victim over the phone while five defendants were on the ground in downtown Orlando to receive the victims’ money and deal with the banks.
Several of the defendants were registered owners of official-sounding businesses, such as Palmedge Construction, LLC. In reality, federal authorities said the businesses were dummy corporations and did not actually do construction work. The so-called businesses used P.O. boxes set up at UPS Stores and other locations to receive packages from victims as far away as Arizona and New York. The businesses also set up bank accounts to get money transfers from their victims and then quickly transferred those funds overseas, the federal complaint said.
The federal investigation used surveillance to watch the defendants.
Decoy Gold Bars used to catch a scammer. Source: U.S. v. Lin, Detention Memo, 3:24-mj-00215, Oregon
The court records also give insight into how difficult it can be for law enforcement to investigate alleged fraud like this.
“The scheme is constantly changing hands and faces and that the identified suspects have lived in various parts of the United States of America, including Florida, California, New York, and Texas. They are likely to move to different locations because avenues for opening PO boxes or bank accounts are closed after companies or local branches become aware of activity on those accounts,” the complaint said. “As a result of moving and constantly introducing different individuals into the scheme or rotating who/what company is involved, it adds a layer of anonymity that may make law enforcement investigations less likely to be carried out, as it may involve multiple jurisdictions and be difficult to track down.”
The Department of Justice and the attorneys representing the defendants declined to comment for this story.
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