Three New York Residents Charged With Conspiring to Defraud Bank Customers, Aggravated Identity Theft

PHILADELPHIA – United States Attorney David Metcalf announced that Fanchao Zeng, 33, Zhongzhou Lin, 26, and Yanping Li, 32, all of Queens, New York, were arrested and charged by indictment with one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, five counts of bank fraud, two counts each of aggravated identity theft, and aiding and abetting, arising from a scheme to impersonate and defraud numerous bank customers.

The indictment alleges that the three defendants and their co-conspirators repeatedly used stolen bank account information and fraudulently obtained driver’s licenses to access the home equity line of credit (“HELOC”) of a bank customer, transfer funds from the HELOC to an account that the conspirators controlled, and then withdraw those funds.

As detailed in the indictment, Zeng and Lin, with their co-conspirators, identified bank customers who had HELOCs. Zeng, Lin, and Li then submitted fraudulent change of address requests in the HELOC account holders’ names to the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, usually via the department’s website. They proceeded to use the department’s website to request a replacement driver’s license for each HELOC account holder, which was mailed to the new address to which the conspirators had access.

Next, Zeng, Lin, Li, and their co-conspirators took steps to prepare the funds available from the HELOCs for theft. Sometimes, they made an online transfer of HELOC funds to an account linked to the legitimate HELOC account holder. Other times, they created a fake business account in the HELOC account holder’s name and transferred HELOC funds to this business account. On other occasions, the defendants and their conspirators caused the transfer of HELOC funds to linked accounts via phone-initiated transfer requests or in-person visits to bank branches.

After these steps, the indictment alleges, the defendants and their co-conspirators traveled to branches of the defrauded banks to steal the HELOC funds. They had individuals of the same ethnicity as the HELOC account holders (“runners”) enter these banks, and, using the fraudulently obtained replacement driver’s licenses, withdraw funds belonging to the HELOC account holders. The runners, who included Li on multiple occasions, did so either by making large cash withdrawals or by purchasing official checks in large amounts.

The defendants and their co-conspirators often cashed these official checks at casinos and gambled with the proceeds, in order to hide their fraud.

If convicted, Zeng faces a maximum possible sentence of 131 years in prison, five years of supervised release, and a $5,000,000 fine. If Lin is convicted, he faces a maximum possible sentence of 159 years in prison, five years of supervised release, and a $5,750,000 fine. If Li is convicted, she faces a maximum possible sentence of 101 years in prison, five years of supervised release, and a $4,250,000 fine.

The case was investigated by the FBI and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Eric D. Gill.

The charges and allegations contained in the indictment are merely accusations. Every defendant is presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty in court.