Scammer With Connections To Chinese Crime Organization Arrested In McMinn County

Image Credit: McMinn Co. Sheriff’s Office & Canva

The Tennessee Conservative Staff –

McMinn County police arrested a man after he allegedly attempted to scam a local couple out of thousands of dollars in a scheme linked to Chinese organized crime.

26-year-old Ziyi Lu, of Coral Springs, Florida, was taken into custody Tuesday evening after McMinn County Sheriff Joe Guy responded to a resident’s call for help in the Zion Hill subdivision near Englewood.

According to Guy, the resident contacted him directly after his wife received a phone call from someone claiming to be a federal agent. The caller insisted the couple had been tied to illegal activity and demanded they withdraw and deposit $12,000 in an ATM to resolve the issue.

“The resident sounded very frustrated and asked me to come to his residence and help him with his distraught wife,” Sheriff Guy said in a statement. “The ‘federal agent’ had told the wife that something illegal had been tied to them and they needed to deposit $12,000 in an ATM to satisfy some sort of requirement.”

Sheriff Guy personally went to the couple’s home and listened in as the scammer instructed the woman to withdraw the cash and send photos of it while also warning her to ignore any objections from bank tellers.

Authorities say the couple cooperated with law enforcement and returned home, where they awaited the arrival of the scammer’s so-called “agent.”

Detectives from the McMinn County Sheriff’s Office, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI), and the local Drug Task Force began surveillance in the area. Around 6 p.m., a suspicious vehicle was spotted near the gate at Zion Cove, where the scammer had directed the victims to meet his contact.

Officers quickly surrounded the vehicle, arresting Lu at the scene. Investigators found evidence linking him to multiple scams across the region.

Sheriff Guy stated that Lu is believed to have connections to a Chinese organized crime network. According to the investigation, Lu’s role was to collect cash from victims defrauded by scam callers in China. The money would then be wired overseas.

Lu is currently being held at the McMinn County Jail on charges of criminal conspiracy to commit theft and financial exploitation of an elderly or vulnerable person. His bond has been set at $120,000.