A California scam artist who stole nearly $800,000 in gold bars from a victim was recently captured by police, including a detective who posed as the victim as part of an elaborate, undercover sting operation.
Wenhui Sun, 34, was arrested in Leisure World, Maryland, a senior living community. Officers with the Montgomery county police department’s financial crimes unit orchestrated Sun’s arrest.
Sun allegedly posed as an investigator with the Federal Trade Commission and convinced his victim to hand over $789,000 worth of gold bars.
Details of the scam – and how the tables were turned on the man allegedly running the ruse – were shared last week in newly released court documents.
Sun first contacted the 64-year-old woman in February and claimed to be “Mark Cooper”, an agent with “the office of the inspector general, Federal Trade Commission”, according to court documents, the Washington Post reported.
Sun told the woman that her identity had been stolen and used by dangerous identity thieves in a money- and drug-laundering scheme.
He claimed that he could help the woman obtain a new social security number and protect her assets – but only if she converted them to gold bars and turned them over.
“To ensure her cooperation and secure her assets, Victim 1 was directed to purchase gold bars,” detectives wrote in court documents, according to the Post’s reporting.
“[The gold bars] were to be turned over to FBI agents who would get the bars and place them into the US Department of Treasury.”
The woman made two separate deliveries of gold bars to a person she believed to be a federal “courier”. The deliveries took place in local parking lots, with one totaling $331,817.54 and another $457,410.34.
The woman soon realized that she had been scammed and contacted local police, who began their investigation on 10 March.
Detectives first used surveillance video to obtain the license plate number of the truck used in the deliveries, the Post reported.
Officers then tracked the plate number to a New York rental car company. The same truck was also traced from New York to Maryland, coinciding with the second gold delivery.
Meanwhile, the victim remained in touch with the scammers and convinced them to meet her again for another gold delivery.
But, unbeknown to the swindlers, an undercover officer posed as the original scam victim, even wearing a wig.
Officer Lisa Bromley, in disguise, placed a brown box – without any gold in it – in the back of the scammer’s vehicles. The car headed off, with officers arresting Sun at the wheel of the vehicle a short while later.
Sun told officers that a friend in China told him to pick up the package. Sun also admitted that he had driven to several states, including New York, Tennessee and Montana.
Sun was charged with theft over $100,000 and attempted theft over $100,000. He is being held without bond.
Police believe that other Montgomery county residents may have also been scammed, with at least 12 reports of other possible victims, Fox 5 DC reported.
