California man accused of scamming Waukesha woman in her 80s
Junjie Liang
WAUKESHA, Wis. - A 36-year-old California man is charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering. Prosecutors say Junjie Liang is accused of scamming a Waukesha woman in her 80s out of thousands of dollars.
According to the criminal complaint, a Waukesha police officer took a fraud complaint on Jan. 18 from an 84-year-old Waukesha woman. She "reported that from November 2023 through January 18, 2024, she was a victim of fraud totaling $707,390." The woman told police the amount was paid "in cashier's checks and gold bars. She said that unknown suspects posed as Waukesha State Bank employees and claimed that they were acting under the ruse of protecting her money from hackers," the complaint says.
When gathering information from the victim, the woman stated around Nov. 12, 2023, "her personal computer began making 'high-pitched' noises. She also said that the noises were accompanied by a 'pop-up' advertisement that contained an alert and a phone number to call," the complaint says. When the woman called the number, she spoke to an unknown man who "proceeded to assist her in fixing her computer."
Several days later, another person contacted the woman by phone identifying himself as a representative of Waukesha State Bank. The man who identified himself as "Kenneth Wilson" told the victim "her bank accounts had been compromised by hackers and that 'it would be necessary for her to transfer her money to secured FTC accounts' while this electronic breach was dealt with," the complaint says.
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The complaint details several instances in which the victim withdrew money from her accounts and had cashier's checks made out -- or she used the money to purchase bars of gold. On or around Dec. 4, "a person actually came to her house and picked up those bars in person," the complaint says. The victim was "reassured that the transfer of the bars was legitimate," the complaint says.
After "Wilson" contacted the victim on Dec. 18 about making another significant withdrawal from a different account, the woman's portfolio manager called the victim's son. After talking with her son, the victim then decided to call police.
On Jan. 18, on a recorded phone call, Waukesha police placed a call to "Wilson." The complaint says a detective could hear the phone call -- and noted "Wilson" on the other end of the line had an eastern accent. The victim said this was the same person that she had been speaking with since November.
On Jan. 19, the detective coordinated with the victim to call "Wilson" again. During this time, "Wilson" gave the victim instructions on withdrawing money from her account and "instructed her that they should wait 72 hours until her funds cleared, and that they would coordinate again in the future about next steps," the complaint says.
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On Jan. 23, the detective told the victim to place a call with "Wilson," who instructed the victim to buy gold bars. After that, another man named "Mark" could pick up the bars at a restaurant on Sunset Drive in Waukesha. Waukesha police went to the exchange point and saw "Mark" (later identified as the defendant) approach the victim's car. The defendant was arrested. Investigators learned from the defendant that "he does not speak English, and only spoke Mandarin Chinese. A Google Translator was utilized to communicate," the complaint says.
Liang made his initial appearance in Waukesha County court on Friday, Jan. 26. Cash bond was set at $1 million.