Mass. woman accused of scamming elderly residents in NH

A North Andover, Massachusetts, woman is accused of stealing thousands of dollars from elderly residents in New Hampshire as part of a tech support scam.

Rachel Chen, 25, is facing charges in three New Hampshire counties, the attorney general said Monday in a release.

In Merrimack County, a grand jury indicted Chen on June 11, 2024, with one Class A felony count of attempted theft by deception and one Class A felony count of conspiracy to commit theft by deception.

Chen allegedly traveled to J.S.'s home and got a package from J.S. that she believed contained more than $1,500 that belonged to J.S.

Authorities say a man identified himself as a bank employee, who then instructed J.S. to put $22,000 in cash in a box and tape it up.

The unknown man allegedly sent Chen an electronic message that included J.S.'s home address in Allenstown and the message "22K."

Chen is accused of going to the victim's home, providing a fake name and password to J.S. and obtaining the box.

She's scheduled to appear in Merrimack County Superior Court in August.

Eleven days later, a grand jury in Hillsborough County-Southern District indicted Chen, charging her with a single Class A felony count of theft by deception as principal/accomplice.

In this case, Chen obtained or took control over the property of D.L. in the amount of $1,500 by "deception and with a purpose to deprive D.L." by lying about the victim's financial account, saying that the account had been compromised and D.L. needed to give cash to a person hired by the FBI, according to authorities.

The victim, a 75-year-old from Nashua, received an email that appeared to be from Microsoft, the attorney general said. The message said that her financial account was comprised and provided her with a number to call.

D.L. then called that number and spoke with a person, who forwarded her to another person who allegedly worked for the victim's bank and instructed her to take out $20,000 and tape it up in a box, which she did, authorities said.

The victim then turned over the box to Chen, the district attorney said.

Chen is set to be arraigned on July 11.

Another grand jury in Grafton County also indicted Chen on June 21 and charged her with with one Class A felony count of conspiracy to commit theft by deception.

A person allegedly sent E.B. an electronic message pretending to be from Apple support.

That person told the victim that her financial account had been hacked and that $20,000 had been stolen from her account, federal prosecutors said.

The unknown person then traveled to a "Federal ATM" in Littleton and instructed the victim on how to deposit the money into a cryptocurrency ATM, according to prosecutors.

E.B. was allegedly told to put $20,000 in a package and to take it up. Chen was then sent an electronic message that contained the victim's address, the district attorney said.

Chen is accused of going to the victim's home and taking the package that contained the $20,000.

The 25-year-old is scheduled to be arraigned on July 22.

If convicted, Chen faces a maximum penalty on each charge of 7.5 to 15 years in New Hampshire State Prison and a $4,000 fine on each indictment.

Anyone who may have been a victim of elder abuse or financial exploitation should call their local police or the Department of Health and Human Services at 1-800-949-0470.