PORTAGE, Mich. — Portage Public Safety and the FBI are warning the public about scams targeting older adults after a Massachusetts man was sentenced to prison in a fraud scheme that police said took more than a half-million dollars from two seniors in Portage.
Xiao Yu Wang, 38, was sentenced to three to 20 years in prison, according to Portage Public Safety. The department said he also was ordered to pay $447,000 in restitution.
Portage Public Safety Lt. Ron Clark said the FBI contacted the department in October about a “nationwide crime ring.” Police said there were at least two victims in Portage, and there could be more. One victim lost more than $600,000, while another lost about $30,000, investigators said. Authorities also said there were victims in West Branch and Warren.
Clark said scammers often seek out people they believe are vulnerable, including older adults.
“What the criminals do is they seek out people that are vulnerable,” Clark said. “And in these cases, that vulnerable group are the elderly, or they’re easily persuaded that they’re being watched by law enforcement. They’re easily persuaded that their loved one got in trouble, or there’s a virus on their computers.”
The FBI said it is seeing a surge in scams in which suspects demand money while pretending to be police. Jerell Johnson, an FBI supervisory special agent, said law enforcement will not ask people to withdraw large amounts of money, convert it to cryptocurrency or hand it over to officers.
“Law enforcement will never ask an individual to take out large sums of money, convert it to crypto and to hand that over to law enforcement,” Johnson said.
Clark told News Channel 3 investigators take the crimes seriously because victims often lose money they worked their entire lives to save.
“We take crimes like this to heart because, you know, for you and I and anybody out there, we live a very good life,” Clark said. “We work hard for our money. We save our entire life for retirement.”
Officials told News Channel 3 scammers continue to find new ways to take advantage of victims, including using technology to lure people from other parts of the country.
Johnson cautioned against assuming scams cannot be investigated because of their volume.
“People think, well, there’s thousands of scams going every day, there’s no way they could work all of them,” Johnson said. “I would be very cautious of that.”
Meanwhile, Clark has a stern warning for anyone who goes decides to scam others.
“We’re getting educated as much as they are,” Clark said. “As much as they’ve learned from us, we’ve learned from them. And we’re never going to give up.”
Police said scam victims often have difficulty recovering all of their money.
Anyone with information about this investigation is asked to call the Portage Department of Public Safety at 269-329-4567 or Silent Observer at 269-343-2100.
Scams can be reported to the FBI here.
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