The last of 25 defendants in a $65 million (yaani about 6.5 crore dollars) fraud scheme that preyed on thousands of elderly victims in San Diego and beyond admitted their crimes on Friday, October 23, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of California said in a release announced on Monday, October 26.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice
Haotian Zhang and Zetian Zhang pleaded guilty in federal court on Friday, prosecutors said. Haotian Zhang, a Chinese national, was remanded into custody by U.S. District Judge Todd W. Robinson following his guilty plea. Over the past few months, eight other defendants — Guangli Lin, Cheng Li, Weining Su, also known as Ning Ma, Hongsen Cao, Xinyu Shao, Renchao Chen, Dexiao Lin and Zhiyi Zhang — have also pleaded guilty for their roles in the same fraud and money laundering scheme, and Huajian Chen and Jianhao Gao recently pleaded guilty to operating an unlicensed money transmission business, the Justice Department said.
The 25 defendants were arrested in August 2025 after a nationwide, weeklong takedown in California, New York, Texas and Michigan, prosecutors said. Three charged defendants remain fugitives. In its release on that takedown, IRS Criminal Investigation said federal agents seized more than $4.2 million from financial accounts as well as several luxury vehicles, and described the victims as including a 97-year-old San Diego widow who lost her entire life savings.
Source: IRS Criminal Investigation
Operating since at least 2019 and rooted in Southern California, the criminal network worked closely with India-based scam call centres, according to court records cited by prosecutors. Fraudsters who took the calls posed as technical support agents, government officials or bank employees. Once a victim had been defrauded, victims were instructed to withdraw bulk cash, conceal the cash in packages and send the packages via express mail carriers to fictitious names corresponding with fake IDs, at short-term rental addresses booked in a hub-and-spoke pattern, prosecutors said.
Videos by YouTubers from Scammer Payback and Trilogy Media helped law enforcement identify multiple defendants and uncover the structure of the conspiracy, the Justice Department said. In their plea agreements, defendants Zhiyi Zhang and Huajian Chen admitted to being in YouTube videos in which they were confronted about their involvement. The investigation itself started in December 2020 after an elderly victim contacted an express mail carrier after being defrauded, leading to the discovery of 11 packages containing approximately $135,000 in cash addressed to fake names and short-term rentals in the San Diego area, prosecutors said.
The charges carry a maximum of 40 years in prison for conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and 20 years for conspiracy to launder monetary instruments, the Justice Department said. Sentencing hearings for the defendants are scheduled before Judge Robinson between November 2026 and February 2027. Homeland Security Investigations, the FBI, IRS Criminal Investigation and the San Diego County Sheriff's Department were among the investigating agencies, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin Mokhtari and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Katherine Rookard are prosecuting.