An 87-year-old Garden City woman contacted Nassau County Police at around 7 p.m. Monday, Dec. 2, saying a man had called and informed her that a Chinese porn website had stolen money from her bank account.
In order to rectify the situation, the man told her she needed to purchase a gold bar worth $97,875 and someone would come to her home and pick it up using a secret code.
Fortunately, the would-be victim contacted police before forking over any money. Fifth Precinct officers were waiting when the suspect, 31-year-old He Zheng, of Flushing, Queens, arrived to collect the gold bar, police said.
Zheng was arrested without incident on suspicion of attempted grand larceny. He was arraigned at First District Court in Hempstead on Tuesday, Dec. 3.
Detectives asked anyone who may have fallen victim to a similar scam to contact Nassau County Crime Stoppers at 1-800-244-TIPS.
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