Pretending to be an official, 2 Brooklyn Chinese men tricked an elderly woman into buying a $750,000 gold bar

Two Brooklyn Chinese men were arrested and charged for allegedly threatening and trying to trick an elderly woman in Lake County, Illinois, into buying gold bars worth $750,000. The two suspects were in federal deportation proceedings in 2023.

Lincoln Shire police said that in February this year, employees of BTRC Coin & Gold, a gold company in the county, reported to them that they might have discovered a fraud case. On February 24, an elderly woman bought gold bars worth about $750,000 from the company. The elderly woman told police that she bought the gold bars to give them to a person who claimed to be a government employee. The man threatened the elderly woman that if she didn’t pay, her family would be arrested, and the so-called government employee had arranged to meet the elderly woman the next day to pick up the gold bars.

The police quickly determined that this was a fraud case. The Northern Area Crime Task Force (NORTAF), the FBI and the Lincoln County Police Department worked together to arrange plainclothes law enforcement officers at the scheduled gold bar handover location the next day and arrested two male suspects on the spot.

The two male suspects are 34-year-old Chinese man Xinwei Chen (Xinwei Chen, the following names are transliterated) and 55-year-old Chinese man Tangchao Huang (Tangchao Huang), both of whom reported living in Brooklyn.

Chen Xinwei and Huang Tangchao were each charged with attempted theft of more than 500,000 yuan in property, a second-degree felony. Both appeared in court for the first time on February 26. The judge said that according to a public safety assessment report, the two suspects had entered the federal deportation process in 2023.

Lincoln County Police Chief Joseph Leonas praised the local BTRC company for its high vigilance and quick response, and promptly discovered possible fraud and reported it to the police. “Their awareness and involvement helped us prevent a predatory crime and severe financial loss to one of our most vulnerable populations,” Leonas said. “This case shows that this type of crime is everywhere and that bad actors are constantly finding new ways to commit fraud. We urge everyone to warn their friends and family to be aware of these scams, stay informed, and contact law enforcement immediately if they notice anything that doesn’t seem right.”