Elderly Westchester Woman Scammed Out Of $40K By Brooklyn Con Man: Police

YONKERS, NY — A Brooklyn con man who preyed on vulnerable people in the New York City area is accused of taking advantage of a Westchester woman.

The Yonkers Police Department says that 34-year-old Zhi Wei Zhao, of Brooklyn, was arrested in connection to the scamming of an elderly Westchester County woman earlier this year.

Police explained that in his scam, Zhao sent emails to unsuspecting people, including a number for them to call. Once the person called the number, he told them to withdraw an amount of money to clear pending charges, and he would then go to their house to pick it up.

In April, he told an elderly Yonkers woman to give him $40,000 to clear her name from a federal investigation, according to cops.

Yonkers detectives tracked Zhao down a few weeks ago, with help from the NYPD, and he was arrested and charged with felony third-degree larceny.

"Once again, we stress that NO legitimate law enforcement agency will ask you to withdraw funds to be collected to clear charges," Yonkers police reminded the public. "Anyone with elderly family members is asked to please have a conversation with them to make sure they understand that these requests for money are not legitimate."

"This is just one of the many scam methods these unscrupulous opportunists are using to steal money from hard-working people," police said. "Here in Yonkers, we do everything we can to track them down and bring them to justice."

If you are in Yonkers and are contacted by someone claiming to be law enforcement who is demanding money or it "just doesn't seem right," you can call Yonkers police at 914-377-7900. Yonkers police said they can verify who they are and track them down if they are crooks.