Chinese National Sentenced 24 Months Prison Elder Fraud Southern California

Jiaci Liu, a Chinese national, was sentenced to 24 months in federal prison for orchestrating a fraud conspiracy that targeted elderly Americans, including a 63-year-old man from Poway, California. Liu and his co-conspirators used deceptive pop-up windows to trick victims into believing their computers were infected and impersonated technical support, bank representatives, and government officials to extract money, with one victim withdrawing $28,000 under false pretenses. Authorities arrested Liu attempting to collect cash from a victim’s residence and found evidence he had taken over $202,000 from elderly victims across Southern California and Arizona in just one week. The case was initially handled at the state level before being transferred to federal prosecutors due to its interstate nature, with charges including conspiracy to commit wire fraud carrying severe penalties. The San Diego Elder Justice Task Force, FBI, and local law enforcement played key roles in the investigation, emphasizing the serious harm such scams inflict on seniors. Officials encourage the public to report suspected elder fraud to the National Elder Fraud Hotline.