Xuehai Sun, 38, of Flushing, New York, has pleaded guilty in federal court in Rhode Island to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Rhode Island announced. The release says the scheme targeted seniors with fake tech-support pop-ups and phone calls, and that couriers collected cash and gold from victims. Law enforcement has identified approximately 300 victims in at least 37 states, and the conspiracy group’s known losses exceed $5 million.
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What Sun admitted
According to the Justice Department’s release, number 26-97 and dated October 1, 2026, Sun pleaded guilty on September 30 before U.S. District Court Judge Mary S. McElroy. Conspiracy to commit wire fraud is punishable by up to 20 years in federal prison. Sentencing is set for January 6, 2027, after the court considers the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
How the scheme reached its victims
The release describes a layered approach. Conspirators sent pop-up messages to seniors’ computers that appeared to come from legitimate technology companies and falsely warned that computers were hacked, bank accounts were compromised or the victim was under investigation. Victims who called the number were put through to a “live agent” who claimed to safeguard their assets, then transferred to others posing as representatives of financial institutions or government agencies, including the Federal Trade Commission and the Federal Reserve Bank.
Money moved in three ways: by wire transfer, by cryptocurrency, or as cash withdrawn to buy gold bars. The funds went to individuals in the scheme while victims believed they were going to government-controlled accounts. The release says co-conspirators supplied the victims’ names and information to the couriers.
Anyone who has had a pop-up or a call like this, or who wonders how couriers locate older households in the first place, can start with what the case shows. The contact began with a message or a call, and the people collecting the cash and gold were given victims’ names and information by others in the group. The release does not say where that information came from.
The same kind of contact details, names, phone numbers and home addresses, sit on data broker and people-search sites, and Incogni sends removal requests to those brokers for you and keeps re-sending them.
The numbers, and what they cover
The release says law enforcement identified approximately 300 victims in at least 37 states, including Rhode Island, and that “known losses of the conspiracy group exceed $5 million.” Those are the group’s figures, not an amount attributed to Sun alone. Investigators have also identified an additional $16 million in suspected fraud proceeds laundered through a related account, which the release treats separately from the $5 million in known losses. The release does not give the victims’ ages beyond describing them as elderly or seniors, and it mentions no restitution order yet.
Homeland Security Investigations Providence and the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation led the case as part of the Rhode Island Homeland Security Task Force. Police departments in Narragansett, East Providence and New York, the Texas Department of Public Safety, several HSI field offices and the U.S. Attorney’s Offices for the Eastern District of New York and the Southern District of Texas assisted.
Sun’s part in the ring
Sun admitted that he had couriers collect cash and gold from victims. The release says he coordinated the couriers, the transport of the cash and gold, the amounts owed to co-conspirators and the conversion of gold to cash, and that he knew the property came from fraudulent statements. Assistant U.S. Attorney Denise M. Barton prosecuted the case. Sun was arrested in New York and first appeared in the Eastern District of New York before being transferred to Rhode Island.
An earlier release in the same conspiracy
This was not the first court outcome in the case. A Justice Department release dated August 6, 2026, and updated August 13, announced sentences for two individuals over their roles in the same transnational scheme and carries the same figures: approximately 300 victims in at least 37 states and known group losses over $5 million.
Reporting a pop-up or call like these
People who receive a pop-up warning with a phone number, or a call from someone claiming to be a bank, the Federal Trade Commission or the Federal Reserve, can report it to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center, which describes itself as the central hub for reporting cyber-enabled crime. A report that includes the phone number shown, the amounts requested and any instructions about wiring money, buying crypto or purchasing gold gives investigators the details they need to connect separate victims to one ring.
The pattern in the release is specific enough to act on: the victims in this case were told their money was moving to government-controlled accounts, and the money was in fact going to individuals in the scheme. A family member who sees an older relative withdrawing a large amount of cash or asking about gold bars has a concrete reason to ask who told them to do it.
The details in this story come from U.S. Attorney’s Office release 26-97, which sets the plea date at September 30, 2026, and the sentencing date at January 6, 2027.
Where couriers get a victim’s name
The couriers in this case were handed victims’ names and information by co-conspirators before they arrived to collect cash and gold. Incogni sends removal requests to data brokers and people-search sites and keeps re-sending them, and less personal data on broker lists can mean fewer scam calls, texts and emails.
Start removing your phone number and address from the broker lists with Incogni →
This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
