On March 21, 2023, in the District of Maryland, Wen Fu Zeng pled guilty to wire fraud. In July 2018, Zeng was part of a scheme where a victim received a telephone call from someone purporting to be a representative of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The victim was told they owed taxes to the IRS and that they would be arrested if their outstanding taxes were not paid. The victim was informed they could resolve the IRS debt by purchasing gift cards from Target and Wal-Mart. Transactional records and video footage from Target revealed that less than one hour after the victim purchased the gift card, Zeng redeemed the gift card at a Target store in Maryland. Zeng redeemed $1,492.39 of the victim’s gift card toward the purchase of two Apple products. Zeng is scheduled to be sentenced on July 10, 2023. At sentencing, Zeng could receive a maximum term of 20 years’ imprisonment, a fine of $1,000,000, and five years of supervised release.

Source:  The facts in this case narrative come from the following publicly available documents: D. Md. Plea Agr., filed March 21, 2023; and D. Md. Sentencing Order, filed March 21, 2023.