WOLCOTT, CT — A 28-year-old Flushing, New York man, who was accused by Wolcott police of a $60,000 cryptocurrency scam, was arrested last week during a sting operation, according to authorities.

Xiallong Wang was arrested Friday on charges of criminal attempt at second-degree larceny, first-degree telephone fraud, and criminal impersonation.

“Wang is part of a scam that uses a fake BingX website that supposedly transfers cash into cryptocurrency, in order to purchase gold,” Wolcott police wrote in a Facebook post (click to view a booking photo). “We learned that a male victim was contacted via random text message by a female, who enticed the victim into an online relationship. The female instructed the victim to invest in gold by utilizing the fraudulent BingX account. The victim suffered a loss of approximately $60,000.00.”

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Wolcott Police Det. Robert Virgulto began an investigation after the victim reported the loss to the department.

“A sting operation was set up to have the suspect come to the victim’s residence in Wolcott to collect more money,” officials wrote. “When he arrived, he was placed under arrest.”

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After Wang told police that he is a Chinese immigrant, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security was notified of this arrest, and it was discovered that Wang was in the U.S. on an expired student Visa.

Wang is being held in lieu of bail of $150,000, and is scheduled to appear in Waterbury Superior Court on Jan. 8.


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