Two arrested in Schenectady County scam investigation

SCHENECTADY, N.Y. (NEWS10) — The Schenectady County Sheriff’s Office arrested two men on Tuesday after an investigation into a scam targeting an elderly resident. Zhexxun Sun, 22, and Zhigang Wei, 52, were charged with third-degree grand larceny and sixth-degree conspiracy.

On May 16, the Sheriff’s Office responded to a report by a 90-year-old Schenectady County man who said he had been the victim of a scam. The resident told deputies that he received an email on May 13 alerting him that he had been charged $249 for an unknown service, with contact information attached to settle the transaction.

The man claimed that when he called the included number, the person who answered the phone told him that the charge would be refunded immediately. The victim received a second call from the number shortly after, professing that the man accidentally had $30,000 refunded to his account through PayPal, which the victim was told he would need to return, or else he would face heavy fines from the IRS.

According to investigators, the victim withdrew as much as he was able to from his bank, $14,000, and a representative of the callers reportedly picked the money up from the man at his home later that day. On May 20, after the resident had reported the incident to police, the scam suspect allegedly called the victim once more and told him that someone would be coming to his home again to pick up his remaining balance of $16,000.

Around 3:30 p.m., two men, later identified as Sun and Wei, parked in the driveway of the victim’s neighbor and entered the 90-year-old’s house to collect the money. As they left the home, Sun and Wei were taken into custody by the Schenectady County Sheriff’s Criminal Investigation Unit and the Schenectady County Street Crimes Task Force.

Both men were arraigned by Judge Kenneth Litz in the Town of Rotterdam Justice Court before being released on their own recognizance. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security informed local law enforcement that Sun and Wei had fled the country into Canada, and that Sun was taken into custody at the border on two outstanding warrants. The investigation remains ongoing.