Scammer Gets Harsh Sentence For Defrauding Elderly Couple Of $20K

ASHBURN, VA — Jiemin Pan, 58, was sentenced to seven years in prison on March 26 for her role in defrauding an elderly Loudoun County couple, a far harsher sentence than guidelines call for. She is also required to pay $20,000 in restitution to her victims after her release.

According to the Office of the Commonwealth’s Attorney for Loudoun County, Pan defrauded an elderly couple of $20,000 in a scheme in which she posed as a bank representative in a sophisticated scam.

Pan was found guilty of one count of obtaining money by false pretense and one count of conspiracy to obtain money by false pretense in December 2025.

The Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office noted in a press release that the punishment recommended by the Virginia Sentencing Guidelines was probation with no incarceration.

According to VirginiaCourtFile, fraud “defendants convicted in Loudoun typically receive a one-year sentence as the median outcome, though sentences vary widely with an average exceeding 18 months, suggesting some cases involve more serious circumstances or repeat offenses.”

Prosecutors said the victims had accidentally visited a phishing website while searching for contact information for their antivirus software. They called the scam site and were told that there had been fraudulent activity on their account.

The scammer asked for the couple’s banking information, which the couple provided. The couple were then put on a three-way phone call with someone posing as a bank representative, who asked for more banking information from the couple and told them their local bank branch was involved in fraud.

They advised the couple to withdraw $20,000 in cash to protect it from bank fraud, and told the couple to wait for another bank representative to come to their door to collect the money to deposit into a secure account. It was Pan who showed up at the victims’ door to take the money. It has never been recovered.

Senior Commonwealth’s Attorney Dircia Schubert argued for a punishment above recommended sentencing guidelines, emphasizing the vulnerability of the victims and the imperative to deter other scammers. “She took a sum of $20,000 from retirees who are on a fixed income ... she is the reason why the [victims] don’t have $20,000 and have lost their sense of safety,” she said in a press release.

Commonwealth’s Attorney Bob Anderson called criminals who target the elderly “reprehensible.”

Pan was formally sentenced to 15 years, with eight years suspended. The suspended sentence is conditioned upon also completing five years of supervised probation and paying back the stolen $20,000.