Multi Agency Investigation Leads To Arrest Of Virginia Man In Alleged Phone Scam

TUPELO, MISS. (WCBI) – A multi-agency investigation leads to the arrest of a Virginia man, accused of scamming an elderly Tupelo couple out of  $19,000.

The investigation started when an elderly couple called Tupelo police in March, claiming they lost $19,000 to a scammer. The alleged scam began with an illegal telemarketing call.

“This all falls under our work in enforcing the Mississippi No Call Law,” said Public Service Commissioner Brandon Presley.

Investigators with the Public Service Commission, and Tupelo Police began gathering evidence, which Presley says included video surveillance of the suspect committing the crime.

Fifty-year-old Yao Lin, of Ruther Glen Virginia, was arrested in Georgia. Lin is charged with three counts of false pretense and two counts of mail fraud, all felonies.

Investigators say Lin is part of a group of scammers, who use unsolicited phone calls to trick victims into purchasing gift cards for debts or other false claims.

District Attorney John Weddle says quick action from Tupelo Police and Commissioner Presley’s office was crucial in cracking the case.

“Time is your enemy and a lot of times you lose the trail, so to speak, the scammers, use a lot of technology in their schemes, rolling phone numbers, use phone numbers that don’t last very long, hard to trace those,” Weddle said.

“Many times these cases are very very hard to track down, the actual criminal that did the work, many times, are out of the country, many times they have several layers between the call made to a Mississippian and where the actual criminal is,” Presley said.

Public Service Commissioner Brandon Presley said there were two key factors in this case. One was changes to the state’s no-call law which allows the PSC to investigate any calls where a caller tries to obtain money.
And the second, and just as important, the willingness of the elderly victims to report the crime.

Presley says his office has received more than 100,000 complaints about no-call laws through the PSC’s phone app, where callers can report unscrupulous telemarketers.