A judge on Monday denied bond for two New York men arrested
Friday by the Habersham County Sheriff’s Office in connection with the theft of
thousands of dollars from a Cornelia man.
“Both Ying Chen, 39, of Elmhurst, N.Y., Jian Jun Zhan, 34, of Brooklyn, N.Y., are charged
with theft by deception after allegedly stealing $40,000 from a local resident then
returning to steal another $30,000,” said sheriff’s office spokesman Rob Moore.
The case began to unfold Friday when deputies were dispatched and responded to a home
outside Cornelia regarding a fraud call.
“The victim told the responding deputy that the previous day he had received an email
from PayPal that his account needed attention because of money being sent to a
particular business for $399.99,” Moore said. “The email provided a number to call to resolve the
frozen account issue, however, the victim said he googled a number for PayPal instead
due to the email being suspicious.”
The victim’s search yielded an 833- telephone number, which the victim called.
A man named “Peter” at that number told the victim they were going to take care of him
then asked him several questions about his bank accounts and login information and
passwords.
On Friday, the victim was told that a man would show up at his house with a secret
“pass code” and, once the man gave the victim that code, he was to hand him $40,000
in cash. The victim, who had withdrawn the money earlier in the day, said the man
showed up at his house about 2:00 p.m. and provided the pass code that had been given,
so the victim handed him the $40,000. The victim watched the man leave.
“A short time later, the victim received a call telling him to withdraw another $30,000
cash and have it ready for the individual to pick up,” Moore continued. “The victim took out the cash from
his account, but the bank notified the family member the victim had withdrawn a large
amount of cash and bank officials were concerned.”
After learning of the situation, the family member called 9-1-1.
Family members of the victim were able to ride around the area and keep an eye on the
suspect until Habersham County Sheriff’s Office deputies arrived.
A deputy attempted to contact Zhan but saw him enter a vehicle before he could pull up
to him. The deputy pulled over that grey Toyota Sienna van with New York license plate.
The driver was identified as Chen, while Zhan was the passenger.
A Baldwin police officer arrived and both men were asked to exit the vehicle.
Four telephones, Zhan’s wallet with bank cards, $3,970 cash, and the Toyota Sienna
were seized as evidence,” Moore said, “with the van impounded and towed to the Habersham County
Sheriff’s Office secure impound lot escorted by a deputy.”