Chinese national indicted on federal wire fraud charge after allegedly picking up $15,000 from elderly victim as part of cyber scam

Staff report

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Xin Liu, 40, a Chinese national who lives in Apopka, has been indicted by a federal grand jury charging her with conspiracy to commit wire fraud. John P. Heekin, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Florida, announced the charge today.

Liu appeared for her arraignment in federal court before United States Magistrate Judge Midori A. Lowry on December 23, 2025, in Gainesville, Florida. Jury trial is scheduled for January 28, 2026, at 8:30 a.m. before Chief District Court Judge Allen C. Winsor.

If convicted, Liu faces up to 20 years’ imprisonment.

Liu’s original arrest

Liu was booked into the Alachua County Jail on November 27, 2025; the Alachua County case began when the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) asked the Gainesville Police Department (GPD) to make contact with a victim in Gainesville after Liu was arrested in Manatee County for participating in a scheme to defraud victims via cyber intrusion and phone scams. The MCSO detective said the Gainesville victim’s address was found in Liu’s phone.

The Gainesville victim told a GPD detective that he had been the victim of a scam but had not reported it because he was embarrassed. The victim, who is 72 years old, said he believed he had lost $60,000 in the scam but could only confirm the amounts of two transactions; he said one of those involved an Asian female who came to his house on July 30 to pick up $15,000.

The victim said the scam began with a pop-up on his computer; he clicked on it and received a call from someone who said they were with the Department of the Treasury and claimed people had taken his identity and had been slowly removing money from his account to purchase Bitcoin. The victim allowed that person to remotely log in to his computer to “verify this” for him, and then they convinced him to send them money “to resolve the issues.” The victim said they told him not to speak to his bank because the suspects had accomplices inside his bank.

In one instance, the victim was told to transfer $20,000 to a Wells Fargo account; he also said he mailed money to a business in California, but he could not recall the amount of that transaction.

In a post-Miranda interview in Manatee County, Liu reportedly gave many conflicting statements and changed her story several times, but she finally said she had downloaded a Chinese social media app and had seen a post advertising work as a driver; she said she was paid to pick up packages and take them to other people. She said she was told that all of the clients were elderly, but she claimed that she did not know what was in the packages; she said she gave the packages to an Arabic man in St. Petersburg.

Liu reportedly admitted eventually that she was told to take part of the cash from each pick-up before delivering the package to the man in St. Petersburg, and she admitted that she knew most of the packages contained documents and/or money.

Liu reportedly said she assumed that the elderly clients were being taken advantage of, but she said she continued to pick up the “packages” because she did not know for sure that it was a scam.

A search of Liu’s phone reportedly showed that she was in the vicinity of the victim’s address on July 30, and the victim’s address was found in text messages between Liu and the company that had advertised on the social media app.

The text messages also reportedly told Liu she should not “let yesterday’s situation happen again,” and the MCSO detective reported that she had picked up a “package” on July 29 in Manatee County and had portrayed herself as an FBI agent, but the victim became suspicious and took pictures of Liu and her vehicle.

Liu has one felony conviction (non-violent); according to a sworn complaint filed in Alachua County, she is a Chinese citizen, and a notation on her First Appearance Order said, “ICE hold.”

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigations, and the Gainesville Police Department. Assistant United States Attorney Adam Hapner is prosecuting the case.

An indictment is merely an allegation by a grand jury that a defendant has committed a violation of federal criminal law and is not evidence of guilt. All defendants are presumed innocent and entitled to a fair trial, during which it will be the government’s burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt at trial.