New York man arrested in alleged sophisticated scam stealing Massachusetts resident out of thousands; here are the details

NORTH READING — Chief Mark Zimmerman reports that the North Reading Police Department arrested and charged a New York man in connection with a scam that stole thousands of dollars from an elderly resident. 

The North Reading Police Department was contacted by an elderly resident in town who believed that they were being scammed by individuals on the internet. 

North Reading Police investigators subsequently determined that a sophisticated online scammer had unlawfully gained remote access to the resident’s computer and that they were able to successfully utilize a series of threats and intimidation to steal more than $10,000 from the victim through digital Bitcoin transactions.

After being alerted to this theft, North Reading Police discovered that the scammer was attempting to steal additional monies from the victim, this time telling the victim that federal agents would be coming to their home address to collect the remainder of their money. 

On Thursday, as a result of the investigation into this matter, North Reading Police Detectives and Patrol Officers were able to arrest 30-year-old Xuejian Wu of New York, NY as he arrived at the victim’s residence and identified himself as a federal agent attempting to receive the money from the victim.

Wu was arraigned in Woburn District Court on Friday on charges of Larceny Over $1,200 by False Pretenses, Conspiracy to Commit Larceny by False Pretenses, Attempt to Commit a Crime (Larceny by False Pretenses), Attempt to Commit a Crime (Larceny from a Person), and Attempt to Commit a Crime (Larceny from a Person Over 60 Years Old).

“Arrests such as this are not common in law enforcement. These scammers are experts in targeting our senior citizen population and using threats and intimidation through technology to victimize them, and often keep them from notifying the police in time to act. In this case we were able to successfully turn the tables on a scammer who chose to target our residents, and it resulted in the successful arrest of Wu,” said Chief Zimmerman. “The North Reading Police Department will continue to prepare and train its officers in the constantly changing nature of technology-based scams which seek to victimize our residents. We will also expand on our efforts to investigate and prosecute these cases with our federal, state and local partnering agencies. If you think someone may be trying to scam you online through your phone or computer, please contact us immediately for assistance.”