Two Chinese nationals living in New York were arrested and charged with scamming an elderly Bel Air resident into hand-delivering a large sum of cash to an individual using a prearranged code word.

Detectives with the Harford County Sheriff’s Office coordinated a meet up with the suspected scammers and the victim. Officers arrested the suspects, Chongsong Chen, 48, and Wei Hua Wang, 71, during the meeting, according to a news release from the Harford County Sheriff’s Office, and recovered cash and multiple cellphones believed to be linked to the operation.

The Harford County Sheriff’s Office said the “elaborate financial scam” dates to June 18, when an 87-year-old Bel Air resident received a popup message on her computer, falsely claiming that her device had been hacked. According to police, the message listed a phone number and instructed the woman to call for assistance.

After placing the call, the victim was manipulated by a scammer into believing her bank accounts had been compromised, police said. The scammers instructed the victim to withdraw a substantial amount of cash, place it into a package and hand-deliver it to an individual using a prearranged code word, according to police.

“This case is part of a growing trend of financial scams that target older adults — many of which exploit trust, urgency or fear,” the sheriff’s office said in a news release.

Last August, two New York men were convicted in Carroll County in a similar scam. The men, also Chinese nationals, were charged with targeting a 62-year-old Finksburg woman who began receiving fraudulent emails, texts and calls from a person claiming to represent PayPal, and was convinced to withdraw cash several times to cover an error with her account. The scammer then arranged for a courier to pick up the cash, which she was instructed to place in a wrapped and taped cardboard box. After the Carroll County Sheriff’s Office got involved, deputies asked the victim to set up another transfer at her Finksburg home, where deputies from Patrol Operations and Investigative Services were waiting and arrested the suspects.

Police said investigators are pursuing additional leads in connection with the code-word package hand-off scheme in Harford and that the investigation is ongoing.

The Harford County Sheriff’s Office reminded residents to never send money or provide personal information to unknown individuals over the phone or online and to not respond to unsolicited pop-up messages or phone calls claiming computers or bank accounts are compromised.

Police said requests for payment in the form of Bitcoin, Green Dot cards or other prepaid cards are also a strong indicator of a scam. Residents should never withdraw or transfer money based on instructions from an unknown caller and should always verify with a trusted source such as their bank, before taking any action, police said.

Have a news tip? Contact Matt Hubbard at mhubbard@baltsun.com, 443-651-0101 or @mthubb on X.