26-06-2025
Elder fraud case in Maryland prompts warning from Harford County law enforcement
The Harford County Sheriff's Office issued a warning after an 87-year-old Maryland woman was scammed out of tens of thousands of dollars.
"It's one of the things, unfortunately, we deal with on a regular basis," said Colonel William Davis with the Harford County Sheriff's Office.
In fact, according to the FBI, elder fraud was up 14% in 2023.
Arrests in Maryland elder fraud case
Unlike most elder fraud incidents, two people are facing charges for the case in Bel Air.
"A lot of times, these scammers are overseas and they're dealing with actual codes that are on the back of gift cards and things like that, and they're never actually here," Col. Davis said. "This scam happened to be where they physically are here and came and took cash, so it made it easier for us to come and catch them."
Chongsong Chen, 48, and Wei Hua Wang, 71, both of New York, were charged with theft and theft scheme.
Chongsong Chen, 48, and Wei Hua Wang, 71, both of New York, were charged with theft and theft scheme after a Harford County woman was scammed.
Harford County Sheriff's Office
Col. Davis said the alleged thieves sent a pop-up to the woman's computer, warning that her bank accounts were compromised. The alert demanded $18,000 to fix the issue.
"These scammers had convinced her to go to the bank, get money, take pictures of her getting the money, take pictures of the money, package it a certain way, and they would come to the house. They even used a code word so she would think it was the right person she was giving the money to," said Col. Davis.
When the thieves allegedly demanded an additional $15,000, the woman called the sheriff's office.
When the two men showed up to pick up the cash the next day, authorities were there waiting for them.
Avoiding elder fraud
According to the FBI, these types of scams caused over $3.4 billion in losses in 2023.
"They don't keep up with technology and they don't understand how things were with bitcoin and the internet and social media and all of those things, because they just don't care, so they're not keeping up with it. So people are taking advantage of that and make them believe that what they're being told is true," Col. Davis said.
Fortunately for this woman, she was able to get some money back, and officials are working to recover more.
But officials are warning people that if something seems off, it probably is. Anyone asking for cash, bitcoin, gift cards or wire transfers over the internet is likely a scammer.
The Harford County Sheriff's Office also believes there are likely more victims of these alleged thieves in the area, and urges anyone who thinks they may have been targeted to give them a call.
