Yongxian Huan, a 24-year-old Brooklyn Chinese man, was arrested and charged last year for impersonating a government employee and defrauding an elderly couple of more than 400,000 gold bars in Montgomery County, Maryland. On Monday (23rd), Huang Yongxian pleaded guilty in the Montgomery County Circuit Court and will face up to ten years and six months in prison.
According to court documents, since September 2024, the victimized elderly couple received a text message that appeared to be from Apple, informing them that their Apple account had been stolen and asking them to contact an Apple representative.
The victim then called the phone number provided in the text message and spoke with several people claiming to be Apple employees. Eventually, the victim contacted Yongxian Huang, who claimed to work at the Federal Trade Commission. The other party instructed the victim to exchange the assets for gold bars and deposit them with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) to prevent the assets from being used for child pornography and purchasing missiles for Russia.
Huang Yongxian, a Chinese man from Brooklyn, defrauded an elderly couple in Maryland of more than 400,000 yuan in gold bars. (Provided by the Montgomery County Police Department)
After purchasing two gold bars worth more than 367,000 yuan and wired more than 41,000 yuan, the couple realized they had been defrauded and contacted the police.
The Montgomery County Police Department and FBI Baltimore agents then worked with the victims to continue communicating with the fraudsters and arranged for them to come and pick up the gold bars worth more than $84,000.
On November 14, 2024, a local detective posing as a female victim handed a package to Huang Yongxian, who drove away while the police monitored his return to Brooklyn. Huang was subsequently arrested and detained by the New York police, and was later extradited back to Montgomery County, charged with conspiracy to steal, attempted theft, and theft.
On June 23, Huang Yongxian pleaded guilty and will face up to ten years and six months in prison. His sentencing is scheduled for July 11.
nice