Posted on: April 16, 2019 12:00 PM

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Queens couple busted for scamming elderly woman in Minnesota

Police arrested Jiarui Chen, 25 and Yue Niu, 26, both of Queens and charged with attempted grand larceny. Nassau County police reported the incident happened on April 15 around 11:38am at Roosevelt where both Chen and Niu had mailbox address and were taken into custody.

According to detectives, on Wednesday, April 3, 2019, a female victim, 84, from Goodhue Minnesota, received a phone call from an unknown subject who stated they were an attorney and that her grandson was in police custody. The subject instructed the victim to purchase multiple gift cards amounting to approximately $2,750 US currency in value and give them the codes over the phone, which the victim complied. On Friday, April 5, 2019, the victim was again contacted by the subject and informed that in order to get her grandson into a work release program they required an additional $5,100 US currency to be mailed to an address on Hudson Avenue, Roosevelt. The victim went to a UPS store where a store employee informed the victim that she should contact the police before mailing out the package.

The Goodhue Police Department of Minnesota contacted Nassau County Police and informed them of the situation. On Monday, April 15, 2019 Nassau Detectives observed defendant Jiarui Chen, 25, of Queens arrive at the location and remove the delivered package from the front porch. Defendant Jiarui Chen was placed into custody without incident. Upon further investigation Police were able to locate his vehicle, a 2014 Mercedes Benz in which his wife, defendant Yue Niu, 26, of Queens, was inside and was apprehended without incident. The vehicle was impounded. The investigation is ongoing.

Detectives request if anyone believes that they have been victimized by Defendants Jiarui Chen or Yue Niu to contact Nassau Police at 1-800-244-TIPS. All calls will remain anonymous.