{"id":199340,"date":"2026-04-16T14:05:06","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T14:05:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/199340\/"},"modified":"2026-04-16T14:05:06","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T14:05:06","slug":"bayside-woman-sentenced-for-running-pig-butchering-scam-that-targeted-victims-from-across-the-country-da-qns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/199340\/","title":{"rendered":"Bayside woman sentenced for running pig butchering scam that targeted victims from across the country: DA \u2013 QNS"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Bayside<\/a> woman was sentenced to 120 days in prison on April 15 after paying a total of $2.5 million is restitution for her role in a pig butchering scam<\/a> that impacted 13 victims across the country.<\/p>\n

Tiffany Yang, 37, of 200th Street, pleaded guilty on March 18 to grand larceny in the third degree, admitting she befriended her victims online and convinced them to invest in fraudulent assets through fake websites. The term \u201cpig butchering\u201d is based on the agricultural practice of fattening pigs before slaughter, symbolizing how scammers \u201cfatten\u201d their victims with their \u201caccounts\u201d showing artificial gains to manipulate the victims into depositing more money. The funds were then routed to the accounts of multiple shell companies in Yang\u2019s control, and the fraudulent websites were shut down.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe so-called pig butchering scams are exploitative and profoundly harmful,\u201d Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said. \u201cThe defendant participated in a predatory scheme that targeted victims across the United States and carefully cultivated their trust before luring them into fraudulent investment opportunities and stealing their money.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the charges and investigation, one of the victims began chatting with an individual named \u201cLily List\u201d over Facebook messenger in March 2023. After several days of chatting, the individual suggested switching the conversation to WhatsApp, which is end-to-end encrypted. Eventually, the individual posed a financial opportunity to the victim on a trading platform called Spread Ex, which is a legitimate financial and betting services company.<\/p>\n

A short while later, the victim began wiring money from his personal accounts to what he believed to be his personal Spread Ex Ltd. account \u2014 depositing a total of $1,086,244 through 13 wire transfers between March 2023 and February 2024, according to the investigation. During this time period, the victim was able to log into the alleged website and view his \u201cinvestments,\u201d which appeared to be growing.<\/p>\n

Eventually, the victim attempted to withdraw money from the account but was unable to do so. He eventually lost access to the Spread Ed Ltd. website before it was removed in its entirety, according to the charges.<\/p>\n

The subsequent investigation surrounding the victim\u2019s losses determined that one of the victim\u2019s wire transfers was deposited into a JP Morgan Chase account linked to an address of 153-53 77th Ave., apartment 2B in Flushing<\/a>. A record search revealed that at least 97 JP Morgan Chase customers, many purporting to be businesses, have used the same address as the listed address on the accounts. Some of the names on these accounts were Jian Ma Foot Spa 2 Inc., Chen Graceful Nails, Inc., Chen the Bronx Bar Inc., Chen New Funny Nail Inc., Chen I Love Spa Inc., Fend Thao Nail Inc., and others.<\/p>\n

A further review showed multiple wire transfers into these accounts that were recalled or confirmed to be fraudulent by the sender. Investigators with the Queens District Attorney\u2019s Detective Bureau identified an additional 16 victims who had wired money into the Chase accounts registered to apartment 2B from August 2023 through January 2024. Each victim stated that they had spoken to a female online who had promised them great investment opportunities. Following these conversations, each victim wired the money, believing that they were making successful financial decisions. A short while later, the victims tried unsuccessfully to withdraw their funds and eventually lost all access to their investment accounts, according to the investigation.<\/p>\n

Deed records from the New York City Department of Finance indicated that the defendant was the registered owner of the condominium. An IP address used to log into the Chase account for Chen Graceful Nails Inc. was traced back to her house on 200th Street in Bayside.<\/p>\n

On Oct. 2, 2025 members of the DA\u2019s Detective Bureau and the NYPD executed a court-authorized search warrant at the location. Yang was observed inside and arrested for possession of an unloaded .45-caliber pistol. The search further uncovered numerous bank receipts, cashier checks, business checks and debit cards, as well as forged U.S. Visas and numerous Chinese and U.S. passports, all indicative of fraudulent activity. Yang was arrested again on Oct. 7 pursuant to the grand larceny charges.<\/p>\n

Queens Supreme Court Justice Leigh Cheng sentenced Yang on Wednesday to 120 days in jail, restitution in the amount of $1,328,286.67, forfeiture of seized U.S. currency in the amount of $1,171,710.33 currently held in the Queens District Attorney\u2019s Office escrow account and forfeiture of seized luxury accessories including handbags and watches.<\/p>\n

\u201cThanks to the diligent work of my Cybercrime Unit, the defendant has been held accountable for her actions, and 13 victims will recover a substantial portion of the funds that were stolen from them,\u201d Katz said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Bayside woman was sentenced to 120 days in prison on April 15 after paying a total of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":199341,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[334,9,24,48106,63,79281,122,5193,124,123,70444],"class_list":{"0":"post-199340","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-queens","8":"tag-grand-larceny","9":"tag-new-york","10":"tag-new-york-city","11":"tag-new-york-city-department-of-finance","12":"tag-nyc","13":"tag-pig-butchering-scam","14":"tag-queens","15":"tag-queens-district-attorney-melinda-katz","16":"tag-queens-headlines","17":"tag-queens-news","18":"tag-tiffany-yang"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199340","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=199340"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199340\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/199341"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=199340"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=199340"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=199340"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}