Scammers take plea deal after attempting same scam on same elderly victim the following day

VENTURA COUNTY, Calif. (KEYT) – Shaohua Sun and Yanwen Gu have each pled guilty to felony conspiracy to commit elder abuse in connection with an attempt to scam a local senior citizen for the second time.

Sun surrendered $25,000 representing a full restitution in the case before entering his guilty plea on May 7, 2026, and Gu pled guilty on May 11 of this year noted the Ventura County District Attorney's Office.

Previously, both had entered not guilty pleas during an arraignment on their charges on March 23.

On March 18, a local senior citizen received a text telling him to confirm a $350 Apple Store purchase made using his credit card detailed the Ventura County District Attorney's Office.

The message included a phone number directing the victim to call "immediately" and once he was on the phone, an unidentified co-conspirator falsely claimed that the senior citizen's local credit union account was linked to potential child sexual abuse content based in Canada shared the Ventura County District Attorney's Office.

The elderly victim was then told to call another number that scammers claimed was for the "Ventura County Credit Union Fraud Department" noted the Ventura County District Attorney's Office.

The person on the other line identified herself as "Jade" and told the victim to immediately withdraw $25,000 in cash, meet a person they claimed was an undercover police officer in Ventura, and give the cash to them as "evidence" stated the Ventura County District Attorney's Office.

During the call with the faux fraud department, the victim was given a code phrase to recite to the person they were meeting shared the Ventura County District Attorney's Office.

Unfortunately, the victim complied with all of the steps and he was left wondering if he had been duped.

He decided to file a crime report and on March 19, while detectives were interviewing him regarding his report, "Jade" called back and asked for $50,000 in cash stated the Ventura County District Attorney's Office.

According to the Ventura County District Attorney's Office, detectives believe that the operation was part of a larger, international fraud network and law enforcement set up an operation to stop the scammers by arranging a second meeting in Ventura.

On March 19, Gu approached the elderly victim, accepted his code phrase, and took what she believed was $50,000 in cash detailed the Ventura County District Attorney's Office.

Ventura Police officers arrested Gu after she attempted to flee the scene on foot and determined that Sun was acting as a lookout for Gu during the exchange and he was also taken into custody at the scene explained the Ventura County District Attorney's Office.

Gu is currently scheduled for sentencing on June 9 and Sun is scheduled for sentencing on June 12.

According to the Ventura County District Attorney's Office, under the terms of their respective plea agreements, each face up to four years in custody followed by a two-year grant of formal probation.

Both remain in custody with bail set at $50,000.

"The victim's decision to give us a call and work with our detectives was critical in helping us stop this
scam before additional money was lost," said Ventura Police Chief David Dickey. "These scams are
highly sophisticated and often target older adults. We encourage all community members to have
conversations with their loved ones about these tactics and to report suspicious circumstances or
activity immediately."