A Chinese national with degrees from Penn State and Cornell is expected to be deported after pleading guilty to a nationwide computer hacking fraud that cost victims $10 million.
Hanlin Yang, 25, pled guilty Friday in US Middle District Court to conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
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His role, as revealed in court, was as a courier who collected $331,000 from six victims in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Ohio. The money was handed over to a coordinator in State College, where he lived, and then moved to California.
Yang was one of eight people charged in a superseding indictment as part of what prosecutors called the “Pennsylvania group.”
The charges cover the period from August 2023 to February 22, 2024, and the victims are primarily elderly or wealthy.
The hoax contained a notification on the computer screen indicating that the device had been hacked, as well as a “pop-up” claiming to be from Microsoft with a phone number to contact to rectify it.
Those who called were told to withdraw their money, claiming it was for home repairs, as their bank account was not secure.
They were also assured that a federal agent would pick up the cash from their residence and keep it safe. They were given a code word that a courier posing as a federal agent would provide upon arrival.
Yang, who graduated from Penn State before pursuing a master’s degree at Cornell, said he is likely to be returned to his native China.
Judge Matthew W. Brann ordered his continued detention pending sentencing.
Yankun Jiang, a former Penn State student who participated in the hoax, pled guilty in September to the same crime.
