Loudoun County, VA (March 13, 2020)- A Chinese national was arrested in Nevada last month and extradited back to Virginia after he was connected to a phone scam by detectives with the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office Financial Crimes Unit.
On January 28, the LCSO responded to a call where a member of our senior population in Ashburn reported she was the victim of a social security scam. The victim reported she received a call where the scammer claimed her social security number had been compromised. She was told in order to fix the issue she would need to wire transfer her money to an account number provided by the caller.
The victim traveled to her bank and wire transferred the money to an account on the West Coast. On the same day, the suspect, later identified as Xiaochun Yuchi, 32, of Zhangjiagang, Jiangsu province, in China, attempted to access the money from a bank in Las Vegas.
As part of the investigation Yuchi was taken into custody in February by the Las Vegas Police Department in coordination with the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office.
“Fortunately detectives were able to recover the victim’s money, which is often not the case in these types of scams as the financial transactions frequently involve overseas accounts,” said Loudoun County Sheriff Chapman. “This is another reminder that government agencies and law enforcement will never contact you demanding immediate payment for any reason,” added Sheriff Chapman.
Yuchi was charged in Loudoun County with obtaining money by false pretenses and is being held at the Loudoun County Adult Detention Center on no bond.
The case remains under investigation.
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