Online scam costs elderly South Windsor victim nearly $50k

Story by Rob Polansky

SOUTH WINDSOR, CT (WFSB) - An elderly man in South Windsor fell victim to an online scam, police said.

It led to the arrest of 42-year-old Qiao Zheng of Brooklyn, NY on Thursday.

Police said they started to investigate a fraud complaint that was made by the 90-year-old victim on Monday.

The victim reported that he gave $49,900 in cash to a courier after he received an email from someone who claimed to work for PayPal.

The email indicated that a transaction purchase for Bitcoin had flagged the victim’s PayPal account.

After the victim contacted a “support number” in the email, a suspect accessed the victim’s computer through a fraudulent link. He requested that money be transferred into a separate account.

When that didn’t work, police said the victim withdrew the money at various bank branches for the courier to pick up at the victim’s home.

Upon being notified of the incident, South Windsor police were present in the area of the victim’s home after the suspect contacted the victim for another $20,000 and indicated a courier would arrive to pick it up in the early afternoon hours on Thursday.

A man identified as Qiao arrived and was arrested, police said.

Police charged Qiao with conspiracy to commit second-degree. He was held on a $100,000 surety bond and scheduled to appear in Manchester Superior Court on Friday morning.

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Online scam costs elderly South Windsor victim nearly $50k