A California property owner’s decision to keep an eye on a vacant rental may have saved an elderly man $9,000.
The owner called police after spotting someone acting suspiciously outside the vacant property in Irvine’s Westpark neighborhood last week. Then a UPS driver arrived with a package.
According to the Irvine Police Department, the man outside removed the newly delivered package from the doorstep. Officers arrived before he could leave the area.
What they found inside was not an ordinary delivery. Police said the package contained $9,000 in cash sent by an elderly man from another state.
Police Say a Fake Bank Call Sent $9,000 to the Vacant House
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Investigators learned that someone had called the elderly man pretending to represent his bank. The caller told him that $9,000 had been “accidentally” deposited into his account and needed to be returned.
The victim was instructed to mail the money to the Irvine address. Police said he did so without realizing the vacant rental was being used as a drop point for the scam.
Officers arrested 41-year-old Dong Wang of Rosemead. Irvine police said Wang had more than $30,000 in cash with him when he was arrested, although the department did not say where the rest of that money came from or whether investigators have connected it to additional victims.
Wang was booked into Orange County Jail. Irvine police did not identify his charges in the department’s public account of the arrest.
The setup resembles a broader type of fraud federal investigators have been tracking. The FBI has warned about scams involving couriers and bulk cash, particularly schemes targeting older adults. In some cases, victims are instructed to hand cash to a courier or send it to another location.
Federal prosecutors have also described fraud networks in which callers convince elderly victims to withdraw cash before giving their information to couriers. In some cases, according to the U.S. Department of Justice, victims were told to mail the cash to addresses controlled by members of the operation.
If Someone Calling From Your Bank Wants Cash in the Mail, Hang Up
Irvine police offered a wonderfully simple rule for avoiding this particular flavor of financial skulduggery: Banks do not call customers and tell them to return money by mailing cash to a stranger’s address.
The Federal Trade Commission offers similar advice. If someone unexpectedly calls about your bank account and asks you to move or return funds, contact the financial institution yourself using a phone number you know is legitimate.
The FTC also says people who have already shipped cash should contact the delivery service immediately. Depending on how quickly the fraud is discovered, it may still be possible to stop the package before it reaches its destination.
One Commenter Had Seen This Before
The circumstances prompted plenty of praise for the rental property’s owner, whose phone call put officers in the right place at a particularly fortuitous time.
“Kudos to the property owner for calling it in, the dispatcher for creating the call, and the officers for responding & locating the subject,” one commenter wrote.
Another commenter shared a much more personal reason for taking the warning seriously. The person’s mother had lost $17,000 after scammers impersonated her grandson and a lawyer, convincing her that the grandson was in jail and needed money. The commenter said she was too embarrassed to tell her family at first.
“If you have elderly parents it’s your duty to have this talk,” the commenter wrote.
That experience tracks with something investigators have repeatedly encountered. The FBI says many fraud losses probably go unreported because victims are ashamed, do not know where to report what happened, or do not immediately realize they were scammed.
As for the Irvine case, one commenter succinctly credited the combination that interrupted this particular delivery: “The homeowner and police force.. just perfect timing.”
Wang is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in court.