Pop-ups, live agents and 300 victims across 37 states
In May 2025 the US Attorney's Office for the District of Rhode Island indicted eight people over a transnational fraud and money laundering scheme aimed at elderly people in the United States and Canada. Pop-up messages on victims' computers made false claims that lured them into calling live agents, who then told them their financial assets were at risk or could be garnished. Investigators identified around 300 victims in at least 37 states with known losses exceeding $5 million. Two of the eight, Fangzheng Wang and Cynthia Jia Sun, have since been sentenced, Sun after pleading guilty to wire fraud conspiracy; the sources reviewed report no outcome for the other six, including Nanjun Song.
- Year
- 2026
- Where
- United States, Canada
- Outcome
- Sentenced
- Reported loss
- $5.0 million
- Victims
- 300
- Schemes
- Fake tech support, Refund and remote access scams, Government impersonation, Bank impersonation and the safe account
- Last reviewed
- 2026-10-10
The facts, as recorded
- Indictment announced 21 May 2025 by the US Attorney's Office for the District of Rhode Island.
- Eight individuals indicted over a transnational fraud and money laundering scheme.
- Targets were elderly citizens in both the United States and Canada.
- Entry point was a pop-up message on the victim's computer making false claims, prompting a call to a live agent.
- Agents told victims their financial assets were at risk or could be garnished, among other false claims.
- Approximately 300 identified victims across at least 37 states.
- Known losses exceeding $5 million.
- The indictment named eight defendants: Nanjun Song, Jirui Liu, Xiang Li, Xuehai Sun, Fangzheng Wang, Cynthia Jia Sun, Zhenyang Xin and Wing Kit Ho; Song, Liu, Li and Wang were detained or in custody at the time, and arrest warrants had been issued for Xin and Ho.
- Investigators also identified a bank account through which approximately $16 million in additional suspected fraud proceeds appeared to have been laundered.
- Cynthia Jia Sun pleaded guilty on 1 April 2026 to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and, on 6 August 2026, was sentenced by US District Judge Mary S. McElroy to 18 months in federal prison and two years of supervised release, and ordered to pay $100,000 in restitution.
- Fangzheng Wang was sentenced by Judge McElroy on 8 July 2026 to a time-served sentence of 13 months and 24 days.
- The Justice Department says Sun and Wang coordinated with co-defendants to travel to victims' homes to collect cash and gold and deliver it to other members of the conspiracy.
- The sources reviewed report no plea, verdict or sentence for Nanjun Song, Jirui Liu, Xiang Li, Xuehai Sun, Zhenyang Xin or Wing Kit Ho.
Two of the eight people indicted have been sentenced: Cynthia Jia Sun, who pleaded guilty to wire fraud conspiracy, and Fangzheng Wang. For the other six, including Nanjun Song, the indictment is an allegation and they are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty; the sources reviewed report no plea, verdict or sentence for them.
Why this case matters
The number worth pausing on is 37 states. This was not a local operation with a handful of victims; it was an industrial pipeline, and the entry point was a pop-up on a screen.
The mechanism described is the standard modern tech-support funnel, and it is worth reading closely because it explains why “just close the window” is incomplete advice. The pop-up does not need to install anything or steal anything. It needs to produce a phone number and a reason to dial it. Once the victim calls, everything after that happens on the phone, with a human being.
The escalation the pop-up conceals
Note what the agents actually told people: that their financial assets were at risk or could be garnished. That is not a computer problem. It is a money problem, and it is where this scheme leaves technical support behind and becomes something closer to government impersonation and the safe-account scam.
That escalation is the pattern. A fake virus warning is worth a few hundred dollars in “support fees”. A fake seizure of a retirement account is worth everything the victim has, and it is what turns a category with modest median losses into one where individual victims lose six figures.
What it tells you about the scheme
There is a single defensive rule that covers this whole family, and this case shows why it has to be absolute: a real problem with your computer never arrives with a phone number attached. Microsoft, Apple and your bank do not put support numbers in pop-ups. A warning that supplies the number to call is telling you what it is.
If a full-screen warning appears and you cannot close it, that is the intended effect, force-quit the browser or restart the machine. It is a web page, not damage.
Sources
- Justice Department Highlights Enforcement Efforts Protecting Older Americans from Transnational Fraud Schemes in Recognition of 2025 World Elder Abuse Awareness Day. US Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs. Accessed 2026-09-06. Supports: The indictment, defendant count, victim count and states, loss figure, and the pop-up to live-agent mechanism.
- Eight Indicted in Transnational Fraud Scheme. US Attorney's Office, District of Rhode Island. Accessed 2026-10-10. Supports: The eight named defendants and their charges, their custody status in May 2025, the 300 victims in at least 37 states, the $5 million in known losses and the $16 million in additional suspected proceeds.
- Two Individuals Sentenced for Their Roles in Transnational Fraud Scheme Targeting Elderly Victims. US Attorney's Office, District of Rhode Island. Accessed 2026-10-10. Supports: Cynthia Jia Sun's 1 April 2026 plea and 18-month sentence, Fangzheng Wang's 8 July 2026 time-served sentence, their roles collecting cash and gold, and the restitution order.