A 24-year-old Monterey Park man pleaded guilty Tuesday and was sentenced to a year in jail for scamming a victim of $25,000 in Santa Ana.
Ge Yu sent phishing text messages to victims, posing as a Social Security, Treasury or other governmental agents, according to the criminal complaint. The text messages offered to assist a victim with identity theft, according to the complaint.
The victim was instructed to withdraw money and package it to be handed off to the U.S. Treasury, the complaint alleged. The defendant posed as the agent and picked up the cash, the complaint alleged.
Santa Ana police said in July in a statement about Yu’s arrest that investigators have seen an increase in the amount of phone scams. Police said the victim lost $175,000 in two weeks.
Police arrested Yu as he was attempting to collect money from a victim near Flower Street and Dyer Road. Investigators “believe this case is linked to a larger, organized fraud ring involving Asian nationals operating through overseas call centers to target victims in the U.S.,” police said.
Yu accepted a plea deal from Orange County Superior Court Judge Kimberly Menninger, who sentenced the defendant to 364 days behind bars. Yu has 280 days credit behind bars since his arrest.
Yu pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit a crime and a fraudulent attempt to obtain property by false pretenses, both felonies.
Police advised residents to never share personal information or money over the phone and to not trust Caller ID because it can be faked or “spoofed” to look legitimate. No agency will ask someone to transfer money from a bank account or threaten arrest without cooperation, police said.