Fake Federal Agents Took $10 Million From Seniors. Trump's DOJ Just Sentenced Three Chinese Nationals

Three Chinese nationals who helped run a scam where couriers posed as federal officers at elderly victims' front doors are headed to federal prison, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced Oct. 30. The scheme took more than $10 million from more than 50 victims across 19 states.

Chief U.S. District Judge Matthew W. Brann handed down the sentences in Williamsport over four days. Together, the three got 138 months and $2,045,513 in restitution orders.

"These scammers targeted and financially exploited the most vulnerable individuals in our society," U.S. Attorney Miller said. "These sentences reflect our office's commitment to protecting elderly victims and prosecuting them to the full extent of the law."

How the scam worked

It started with a computer "pop-up" that falsely told elderly victims their computer or bank accounts had been compromised, prosecutors said. Members of the conspiracy then traveled to victims' homes, posed as federal law enforcement officers and collected large sums of cash, claiming it would be protected.

The cash moved west. Couriers handed it up the chain, and it was delivered to other members of the conspiracy in Los Angeles.

Who got what

Yankun Jiang, 26, of State College. Sentenced Oct. 22 to 84 months and ordered to pay $1,267,122. Prosecutors said he started as a courier and became a key supervisor of the couriers, collecting their cash, packaging it and coordinating its delivery to Los Angeles.

Lei Bao, 24, of New York. Sentenced Oct. 20 to 30 months and ordered to pay $377,591. She made several cash pick-ups and, on at least five occasions, carried suitcases of stolen cash from Philadelphia to Los Angeles.

Hanlin Yang, 26, of State College. Sentenced Oct. 23 to 24 months and ordered to pay $400,800. He went to the homes of at least six victims to pick up cash.

PennLive reported that Jiang was expelled from Penn State, and that Yang earned a computer science degree there and a master's from Cornell. The judge set a year of supervised release for each unless they are deported, and the terms bar them from coming back into the U.S. without written permission from immigration authorities, according to PennLive.

On student visas

The three were among eight Chinese nationals "who obtained student visas to attend college in the United States" when a federal grand jury indicted them, prosecutors said in July 2025. The indictment alleged the scheme ran from about August 2023 to Feb. 22, 2024. The other five charged were Chenhao Chen, Xiaoqing Tu and Dongjie Lu of California, Kuo Zhang of New Jersey and Jiacheng Zhang of Florida. The new release does not say where their cases stand.

The FBI Philadelphia's State College Resident Agency and Homeland Security Investigations built the case. "The FBI will continue to work alongside our law enforcement partners to investigate complex financial crimes," said Wayne A. Jacobs, special agent in charge of FBI Philadelphia. When the charges were filed, Jacobs put it plainly: "The FBI will never ask for money or payment of any kind."