Arizona woman paid scammer lots of money, police looking for other victims

APACHE JUNCTION, Ariz. — The Apache Junction Police Department is looking for residents in the community and across the Valley who may have been coerced into handing over large amounts of money to scammers.

Last month, the police responded to a report of fraud involving an 86-year-old woman who reportedly paid about $82,000 in cash to a suspected scammer. 

AJPD said the woman received an email about a payment she didn’t recognize and responded to dispute the charge. She then received a phone call from a man offering to issue her a refund and instructed the woman to click on a link.

The man then told the woman he had paid her too much of a refund and pressured the woman to pay him cash to resolve the overpayment.

“They over reimbursed her, like, $49,000 so then they played on her emotions and said, ‘Oh, I’m going to get in trouble. My books aren’t going to line up. I really need that money back.,” Apache Junction Community Services Officer Danielle Spence said. “So out of the kindness of her heart was like, Well, what can I do?”

Over the course of two days, a courier arrived at the woman’s house to collect cash payments. On the third day, March 7, Detective Frank Suennen hatched an operation to target the couriers when they asked for more money in person.

“We put the money in the same envelope the same way that the scammer wanted it. We had two male subjects approach. When they were coming, our undercover detectives apprehended them,” Det. Suennen said.

AJPD arrested a 19-year-old and a 20-year-old for charges of money laundering and fraud. Apache Junction PD identified them as JunXing Ma and Mingxuan Yang, both do not appear to be U.S. Citizens, Apache Junction Police say.

AJPD has contacted the U.S. Secret Service and Homeland Security Investigations, agencies that specialize in federal money laundering cases, to help find other criminals who may be carrying out similar schemes.

“I’ve gotten numerous phone calls about the same exact scam. So I’m still working with HSI and Secret Service. They’re all helping local agencies, state agencies, and we’re trying to catch these people the best we can,” Det. Suennen said. “I know a lot of it’s linked up to California because they’re coming back and forth from California on their location data and stuff.”

Police believe there are additional victims who may have lost money to this type of scam. Anyone with information is encouraged to contact the police department in their respective jurisdiction.

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