Two men are facing criminal charges after police say they used a tech support scam to steal $120,000 from an elderly South Shore resident.
Shaoquin Liu, 27, and Shiwang Ning, 33, both of Brooklyn, New York, were arraigned Wednesday in Quincy District Court on charges of theft over $1,200 by false pretense and two counts of conspiracy, Quincy police said.
Liu and Ning first contacted the victim with a fake Microsoft notification and told them suspicious activity was taking place in their bank account related to an online poker website, police said.
The victim then called a phone number provided by the suspect and was tricked into believing they were speaking to someone from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, according to police. They were then induced to repeatedly withdraw large sums of money from the bank.
Each time the victim withdrew money, someone would stop by the victim’s home and pick up the money, police said.
As the scam unfolded, the suspects remotely accessed the victim’s computer, saw which financial institutions they were using and created false correspondence purporting to be from their financial services provider, the FDIC, and the Social Security Administration, police said .
The victim eventually became suspicious and alerted Quincy police. Officers were able to arrest Liu and Ning on Tuesday when they visited the victim to collect more money.
Quincy Police Chief Mark P. Kennedy praised the victim’s bravery for coming forward.
“I am pleased that these two criminals have been arrested by our detectives and our department will intensify our efforts to educate our city’s senior population about these scams and internet fraud,” Kennedy said in a statement.
Scams targeting seniors have resulted in losses of more than $12.5 billion by 2023, police said.
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