AUBURN — A New Jersey man was arrested earlier in the week, charged with defrauding a local man out of $190,000 as part of a larger crime organization said to be operating across the country. 

Cao Hanwei, 25, was charged with theft by deception after police said they caught him in the act of picking up money from the same man he had defrauded earlier. 

Police described Cao, who recently graduated from Columbia University with a Masters degree in statistics, as “a member of a significant fraud and money laundering organization.” They said that when questioned, Cao admitted to taking bulk cash from at least one other victim in New York. 

The scam was uncovered in late November when a 64-year-old local man met with Auburn police to report that he had been a victim of “substantial financial fraud.” 

The man told police he had been making what he thought were investments, through either wire transfers or in-person cash exchanges. Although the victim thought his account was growing, when he discovered that he could not access his funds, he got suspicious. 

The man told police he had made wire transfers totaling $30,000, followed by two in-person meeting with the suspect where he handed over a combined $160,000 in U.S. currency. 

The victim told police that his cash — $110,000 at the first meeting and then another $50,000 at a later date — was inside a Walmart bag when he handed it over to a man outside the Residence Inn on Turner Street. 

The victim told police the man he dealt with used a verification number involving a serial number on a one dollar bill — the victim had to provide that serial number before turning his money over to the suspect. 

After interviewing the suspect, Auburn Police Detective Marshall W. McCamish, also assigned as a Homeland Security Task Force officer, began investigating the case. 

The victim, as it turns out, was still in contact with the suspect. The victim relayed to the man that he wished to invest another $40,000 and another in-person meeting was arranged at the Residence Inn. 

McCamish and other police were set up both inside and outside the hotel in advance of the meeting. When the suspect arrived and stepped out of his Mercedes Benz, he was met by plain clothed Auburn police Sgt. David Madore. 

According to the affidavit, Cao told police he was there to pick up money. In his front left pocket was a one dollar bill with the serial number that had been provided to the victim as verification for the transaction. 

Cao was taken to the Auburn Police Department for questioning. During the interview, Cao told police he had graduated from Columbia University and had been hoping to return to the school as a PhD student, according to the affidavit. 

According to police, Cao admitted to his role in the fraud, saying he was typically provided with a name of a victim and told the amount of money he was to pick up. On the day he was arrested, Cao told police he had traveled for six hours to pick up $40,000 from the local victim. 

Cao was ultimately charged with Class B theft by deception, punishable by up to ten years in prison and a fine of $20,000. He made his initial court appearance on Friday where he was ordered held at the Androscoggin County Jail on $50,000 bail. 

The police report does not detail how the victim first came to be in touch with the suspect, or in what manner he thought his money would be invested. The report does state that the first in-person cash exchanges occurred in November. 

The case remains under investigation by Auburn police and other agencies.