More than two dozen members of a Chinese scam ring have been charged by federal prosecutors with defrauding thousands of victims of more than $65 million, including a 97-year-old widow of a Holocaust survivor from San Diego who lost her life savings.
“Not all heroes wear capes: Some have YouTube channels,” said U.S. Attorney Adam Gordon. “Our office will continue to be on the cutting edge of law enforcement techniques to ensure justice for vulnerable victims who have been defrauded by Chinese organized crime.”
Gordon was referring how so-called YouTube scam-baiters, including Scammer Payback personality Pierogi and others from Trilogy Media ran a reverse op in 2020-21 to catch the fraudsters, most of whom were Chinese nationals, on video, according to a press release issued by the United States Attorney’s Office, Southern District of California.
The evidence of that reverse op was then turned over to prosecutors.
After being contacted — tactics including making unsolicited calls or sending emails to victims — victims were directed to call India-based scam-call centers, where “scripted lies and psychological manipulation” was employed “to gain the victims’ trust and often remote access to their computers.”
The scam the crooks turned to most frequently involved the victims being unwitting recipients of “refunds” who were pressured to “return” the funds by way of wire transfers, cash or gift cards.
At one point, a decoy package was delivered to a suspect named Zhiyi “Cream Pablo” Zhang, who, when confronted, “revealed his real identity … and admitted on camera to receiving packages for money — essentially outing his role in the scheme,” according to prosecutors.
During raids this week in California, New York, Texas and Michigan, more than $4.2 million in cash was seized, 25 were arrested and vehicles, including a 2022 Mercedes-Benz G63, a 2024 Porsche Panamera and a 2025 GMC Yukon Denali, were impounded.
All the suspects were charged with conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering. If convicted, they could face decades in prison and millions of dollars in fines.