Two arrested for allegedly scamming $120,000 out of Massachusetts senior resident
By Julianna Jemima Badajos
The Quincy Police Department arrested two men for deception and stealing personal property after running a “tech support scam”, allegedly scamming an elderly citizen out of $120,000.
Police said the pair first made contact with the victim, Teresa Rogg, by sending a fake Microsoft notification. It said she was denied access to her computer, citing suspicious activity from an online poker website.
“It was very official-looking,” Rogg told WCVB.
Rogg then called a phone number given from the suspect and was answered by a woman pretending to be from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. The woman convinced Rogg into withdrawing large sums of money.
The money was picked up by people claiming to be FBI agents and was done multiple times, police said.
As it continued, the suspects gained remote access to the victim’s computer where they extracted personal information and financial services Roggs used, according to Quincy police.
Police said the suspects used that information to send falsified calls and emails from Rogg’s financial service company, the FDIC and the Social Security Administration.
Rogg became suspicious and eventually notified the local police.
“(The scammer told me to) withdraw the money, take it home, take a picture of it, wrap it in aluminum foil, put it in a box,” Rogg said. “But she assured me that everything was good, and this is the way to safeguard it. That an officer would be there to pick it up.”
New Yorkers Shaoquin Liu, 27, and Shiwang Ning, 33 were arrested Tuesday while on a visit to pick up the cash from Rogg’s house, police said.
Liu and Ning were brought before the Quincy District Court the next day, facing one count of fraud and two counts of larceny with charges of over $1200 by false pretenses, according to local authorities.
Rogg was told she was “not likely” to recover her losses as her credit union was not insured, WCVB reported.
The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Data showed that the number of elderly fraud reports has grown by 14% compared to last year, but they believe the actual numbers are “most likely much higher.”
The Boston Division recorded that Massachusetts alone had a total of over $63 million in losses from elderly fraud in 2023.
Quincy Police Chief Mark Kennedy praised Rogg’s actions in coming forward.
“I am happy that these two criminals were arrested by our detectives and our department will intensify our efforts to educate our city’s senior population about these scams and web-based fraud,” said Kennedy in a press release.