LI Woman Victim Of $300K Fraud Scam: Police

FRANKLIN SQUARE, NY — A man was taken into custody for attempting to scam an elderly woman in Franklin Square out of $300,000, police said.

Zun Huo Shao, 40, of Brooklyn, sent a text message to the 80-year-old victim stating that she was the victim of fraud with her Apple ID, authorities said.

She provided a phone number and the victim spoke to a man, who claimed to be a representative of Chase Bank, police said.

The man advised the victim that he was working with the FBI and that her account had been compromised. She was directed to give her money to the man on the phone for safekeeping, authorities said.

The victim met an unknown man several times between Oct. 10 and Dec. 6, giving him cash and gold bars, with an approximate value of $203,000, police said.

On Thursday, the same man contacted the victim again and arranged a meeting to accept additional gold bars, valued at $80,000 dollars, police said.

The victim was told the FBI agent's name and was given a password to ensure the right person would receive the gold bars. The woman became suspicious and called the police, authorities said.

An investigation led to the arrest of Shao without incident.

He is charged with second-degree attempted grand larceny. He is scheduled to be arraigned on Friday.