Chinese National and New York Resident Plead Guilty in $65,000,000 Senior Fraud Ring That Conspired With India-Based Call Centers

Federal prosecutors have obtained guilty pleas from the final two defendants in a $65 million fraud operation that targeted thousands of elderly victims in San Diego and across the country.

Chinese national Haotian Zhang, 28, and Zetian Zhang, 29, both of Flushing, NY, entered their pleas in San Diego federal court on October 23rd, 2026, says the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California.

The pair admitted roles in a conspiracy that worked with India-based call centers to pose as tech support, government agents or bank employees to defraud seniors into mailing cash to names and addresses given by co-conspirators. The names and IDs of the recipients were fake, and the packages were sent to short-term rental addresses.

Investigators traced the scheme back to 2019 in Southern California and carried out a nationwide roundup in August 2025 that netted arrests in four states, including Southern California, Texas, Michigan and New York.

Three other charged individuals remain fugitives while sentencing hearings for the rest continue into early 2027.

Footage from YouTube creators at Scammer Payback and Trilogy Media proved key to spotting several participants and mapping the group’s hub-and-spoke rental pattern.

“YouTuber Pierogi from ‘Scammer Payback’— which is known for exposing scammers—documented his interaction with the India-based scam call centers. In a series of videos, Pierogi from Scammer Payback teamed up with two other YouTubers from ‘Trilogy Media’ to publish videos on their respective YouTube channels.

In coordinated sting operations, Scammer Payback and Trilogy Media baited fraudsters, confronted them on camera, and published those videos to their respective YouTube channels… The videos also helped shed light on how the conspiracy operated and led to the identification of high-level members of the organization. “

The case drew from an initial 2020 tip by an elderly victim who reported sending bulk cash packages and expanded to cover money laundering tied to the proceeds.

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The post Chinese National and New York Resident Plead Guilty in $65,000,000 Senior Fraud Ring That Conspired With India-Based Call Centers appeared first on The Daily Hodl.