AUGLAIZE CO. — Two women and a man are in custody in connection with multiple scams across the Northern Miami Valley.
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This comes as the Auglaize County Sheriff’s Office issued a warning after several residents reported getting scammed.
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These scams allegedly happened in April.
Wapakoneta Police received a call from two residents on April 24, who believed that they may have been scammed out of a large sum of money.
The suspect, identified as Feng Huang, 46, allegedly called two people and stated that their computer had a virus. He reportedly told them to call Microsoft and their financial institution.
The victims made multiple wire transactions and lost almost $110,000. They were also to withdraw $200,000 and purchase, according to the Wapakoneta Police.
Officers set up a sting operation and arranged for the pickup of the gold bars. Huang arrived at the residence, and officers arrested him. He is in the Auglaize County Jail on a felony count of theft by deception and tampering with evidence, police said.
Bond has been set at $500,000, 10 percent bond.
The second scam was reported to the Auglaize County Sheriff’s Office on April 26. The victims stated that they received an email from PayPal indicating fraud on their account.
“The victim followed the link to the PayPal website, which turned out to be fraudulent. The scammer then showed the victim a phone number, which they claimed was the fraud line for their bank,” the sheriff’s office said.
The scammer allegedly told the victim to withdraw $30,000 and then give it to an unknown man in Auglaize County.
After doing that, the scammer then instructed them to withdraw $50,000. The victim started to withdraw money until they spoke with their family, who then told them to call law enforcement, the sheriff’s office stated.
On April 28, an undercover operation was conducted. Deputies instructed the victims to hand over the money. They dropped it off to two women inside a vehicle at an Auglaize County parking lot.
After they drove away, deputies stopped the vehicle and arrested two women.
The suspects have been identified as two Michigan women. Naijah Thornton, 20, and Kyndall Wilson, 19, were booked on a felony count of theft by deception.
Both are being held in the Auglaize County Jail on a $250,000, 10 percent bond.
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