At the end of August 2025, The US Attorney’s office in San Diego announced four indictments against members of a Chinese organized crime ring that stole at least $65 million from thousands of older Americans. The case was notable because the US Attorney credited two YouTube channels with the leads that led to 25 arrests so far in California, New York, Texas, and Michigan.
When we see 25 Chinese arrests, it might be tempting to think this is all Chinese Organized Crime, but those who actually watch the videos will realize that’s not the case. The referenced videos are from late 2020 and early 2021 and each started with Scammer Payback (Pierogi) responding to a refund scam.
Indian Call Center operators refer to this type of “lead generation” as “email blasting” and we have tens of thousands of example posts from Facebook groups offering the “service” of sending bogus Microsoft Defender emails, claiming that the victim’s credit card is being charged and offering a telephone number to dispute the charge. The ads for this service in Tech Support Facebook groups have been constant for years, including ads as recently as this week:
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