Chinese national sentenced to over 2 years in prison for scamming 73-year-old Joliet man

BILLINGS – A Chinese man living in California, who defrauded a Joliet man out of nearly $200,000, was sentenced today to two years and three months in prison and to pay restitution of $181,000, Acting U.S. Attorney Mark Steger Smith said. Wei Jia Luo, 42, pleaded guilty in March 2026 to one count of wire fraud. Following his prison term he will be deported back to China. U.S. District Judge Susan P. Watters presided. The government alleged in court documents that Luo ran an internet scam and stole $182,000 from a 73-year-old Joliet resident. The investigation started when the Joliet man called the Carbon County Sheriff’s Office on May 8, 2024, to report that he had been scammed. The man was on his computer in March when a pop-up window told him to contact Microsoft. Through a series of messages, the man was led to believe that he was “out of compliance” with the Federal Trade Commission and that to get back into compliance he would need to provide large sums of money to a bank courier he would meet at the Edgar Post Office. The man pulled out $76,000 from various bank accounts and headed to Edgar on April 6, 2024. Unable to find the post office, the man was instructed to meet the bank courier, named “Ethan,” at the Edgar Bar. The man arrived at the bar and met Ethan, who he described as an Asian man in his 30s wearing sunglasses and a COVID mask. He handed over the $76,000 and Ethan left. A few days after the Edgar Bar meeting, the scammers contacted the Joliet man again, this time telling him that more money was needed for him to get fully in compliance with the FTC. Returning to the Edgar Bar on April 11, 2024, the man this time paid Ethan $53,000. Still not done, the scammers contacted the man a third time, telling him still more money was needed. The victim liquidated a $50,000 investment and handed it over to the scammers on May 1, 2024. He was also instructed to buy a number of gift cards from Apple and Lowes that added up to $5,000, and hand those over. In all, the man lost $182,000 to the scammers. Using rental car records and then flight data, investigators eventually identified Ethan as Wei Jia Luo, successfully matching an image of him to surveillance footage of Luo getting off a plane. Luo was arrested on July 31, 2025, in Arizona. He was carrying five fake Texas driver’s licenses, a Chinese passport with Luo’s picture but a different name, gift cards, and over $10,000 in cash. Assistant U.S. Attorney Colin Rubich prosecuted the case. The FBI and the Carbon County Sheriff’s Office conducted the investigation.