By Forum Staff
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Fei Liang has been charged with possession of stolen property in connection with a scheme that defrauded $628,278 from senior citizens across the country.
Liang is alleged to have worked with a co-conspirator who called seniors and claimed to be from the Social Security Administration, their bank, or a vendor. He told the victims their accounts had been compromised and instructed the seniors to wire money to other accounts for “safekeeping.”
Liang, 39, of, was arraigned on a complaint charging him with six counts of criminal possession of stolen property in the second degree and one count of attempted criminal possession of stolen property in the second degree.
According to the charges, Liang opened bogus corporate accounts, under the names JMG Aluminum, Inc., and New Century Aluminum, Inc., at three Queens banks: a TD Bank in Flushing and Capital One and Chase banks in Bayside. Liang listed himself as the president of the aluminum companies.
Between October 2022 and March 2023, wire transfers totaling $628,278.44 were made to Liang’s bank accounts from six victims, including:
- On Oct. 5, 2022, a victim from Trumbull, Conn., wired $190,000 after he received a pop-up message on his computer advising him to call Microsoft at a particular number. When the victim called, he was told that fraudulent activity had been observed on his computer and his bank account may have been compromised. To safeguard his money, the victim was advised to wire funds to another account—one that had been opened by Liang at a TD Bank in Flushing. That same day, withdrawals were made from the TD account.
- On Jan. 31, 2023, a victim from Miami wired $96,300 after he was contacted by an individual purporting to be a Wells Fargo fraud investigator claiming someone had attempted to wire money from his account, which was now “contaminated.” The victim was instructed to wire money to a different account for safekeeping. He sent money to an account opened by Liang at a Capital One Bank branch in Bayside. The next day, most of the money – $90,522 – was wired to a bank in Hong Kong.
- On Feb. 3, 2023, a victim from Port Richey, Florida, wired $48,968.44 to an account Liang had opened at a Capital One branch in Bayside after he was contacted by an individual purporting to be from Amazon saying there were fraudulent purchases on his account. Although the victim did not have an Amazon account, he was told he would be held liable nonetheless for the fraudulent transactions if he did not wire money to “prove his innocence.” Several transfers from the Capital One account were made to a bank in Hong Kong.
- Records show that from March 28, 2023, to May 1, 2023, Liang made withdrawals totaling $40,700 from the bogus corporate account he opened with Chase.
On Feb. 25, Liang was arrested in Maryland inside the MGM National Harbor Hotel and Casino, where, records show he bet more than $2.5 million over a six-month period.
Last Thursday, Liang was extradited to Queens to face charges.
If convicted, Liang faces up to 15 years in prison.
