In September 2024, Marin County Sheriff’s Office Patrol personnel responded to a report of a financial scam involving a fake “virus” that had been “located” on the victim’s computer. The victim was directed to contact what they believed to be a legitimate source for assistance, and were directed to withdraw large sums of money from their bank accounts and couriers were sent to the victims home to collect the funds. This type of scheme has become increasingly common in recent years throughout the Bay Area. Once this incident was reported to MCSO, we began a lengthy investigation to who was involved.
During the course of the investigation, Qingyun Chen (30 yr old female, San Leandro) was identified as being involved in this large scale fraud scam.
On November 13th, 2024, Marin County Sheriff’s Office Investigations Division, with the assistance of the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office members executed a search warrant at two residences in San Leandro. Additionally, the Northern California Computer Crimes Task Force (NC3TF), a regional asset focused on high-tech crimes, including financial scams assisted in the investigation of digital forensics.
Chen is suspected of being involved in multiple financial scams throughout the Bay Area in the last several months. Chen was ultimately arrested and items from the residences were collected as evidence of her crimes, including a large volume of US Currency.
Due to the significant amount of funds Chen is believed to be responsible for defrauding from victims, her bail was set at $2.5 Million when she was booked at the Marin County Jail for 487 PC Grand Theft and 368(D) PC Theft/Embezzlement of Elder Adult.
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