$39K Stolen From Woman In Manhasset During Scam: Police

MANHASSET, NY — Two Queens men were arrested and charged with attempted grand larceny on Tuesday after Nassau police said they tried to scam an elderly woman who had fallen for someone else's scam.

A 73-year-old woman received an email from what she thought was PayPal on July 13, police said. The email told her to call the provided phone number regarding a fake deposit, police said. The woman called and was told she owed $39,000, police said. She was told to withdraw the money, and a representative from the U.S. Department of Justice would meet her and collect the funds, police said. The woman met with a man she did not know and gave him an envelope containing the money, police said.

The woman called the police a few days later.

During the investigation, a man again directed the woman to withdraw an additional $10K, police said. The caller arranged to meet with the woman, police said.

The woman handed an envelope to Bai Lun Wu, 29, and Yisheng Zhang, 29, both of Queens, police said. They were arrested without incident.

A substance believed to be Ketamine was recovered from the men's white 2016 BMW X5, police said.

Zhang and Wu are charged with third-degree attempted grand larceny and seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance. Their arraignment was scheduled for Wednesday at First District Court in Hempstead.

Zhang and Wu do not face charges in connection with the $39K theft, police told Patch. If caught, the scammers would face a grand larceny charge, police said.