In Brooklyn, a Chinese man named 徐偉偉 (Weiwei Xu, phonetically) impersonated a government official to participate in fraud, threatening a 22-year-old Williamsburg woman with arrest for money laundering and intimidating her to hand over a total of $18,200. On September 23, Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez announced that 徐偉偉 was sentenced to one and a half to four and a half years in prison.
39-year-old 徐偉偉 resides in Sunset Park, Brooklyn and had pleaded guilty to felony grand larceny on August 11.
According to the prosecution, the case began on July 17, 2025. The victim received a call claiming to be from the U.S. Marshals, falsely accusing her of money laundering and claiming that her personal information had been leaked. The scammer demanded a payment to withdraw the alleged arrest warrant and continued the conversation with her for over 4 hours.
Following instructions, the victim withdrew $13,000 from her bank account, intending to deposit it into another account. However, the bank suspected fraud and blocked the transaction. The scammer then instructed her to go home and wait for individuals to come and collect the cash.
Later that day, two unidentified men showed up at the victim’s home, with one mentioning the password provided by the scammer earlier and took the $13,000 cash.
In the following days, the scammer continued to contact the victim. On July 20, the victim sought help from the Shomrim, a Jewish community civilian patrol, and the police. While an officer was at her home investigating, the scammer called again. The officer identified their police status and demanded the scammer stop contacting the victim.
However, later that evening, the scammer called again, demanding the remaining $5,200 in cash and claiming an undercover detective would come to collect it the next day. The victim immediately informed Shomrim and the police about the situation.
Around 12:55 PM on July 22, after the victim called the police again, the defendant 徐偉偉 arrived at the victim’s residence in a black Cadillac and met her outside. He provided the pre-arranged password, called himself Jack, and took the $5,200 in cash from the victim’s hand.
Shortly after, 徐偉偉 was intercepted by Shomrim members and the police. The police found the $5,200 that was fraudulently taken from the victim in his car and arrested him.
The prosecution stated that after 徐偉偉’s arrest, the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office further investigated and identified 12 phone numbers related to the fraud case, discovering that the scammer used a web phone service with IP addresses located in several Asian countries.
Gonzalez expressed that these types of scams use intimidation and manipulation to force victims to hand over their hard-earned money. He urged anyone targeted by scams to report it immediately and assured that the prosecution will continue to investigate related cases and hold those involved accountable.