A California man is indicted in connection to an internet scam in South Dakota.
Chao Zheng pleaded not guilty to scamming a couple out of at least $325,000. The total dollar amount is still being investigated.
The crimes happened earlier this summer. The attorney general’s office said a couple from Lawrence County received pop-up messages on their computer from “Microsoft Security.” They were then asked to call a fraud investigator at a bank to pay money to cover so-called commissions of crimes linked to their account.
The couple paid these commissions three separate times. Zheng was arrested after trying to personally collect a fourth payment. He now faces up to 15 years in prison.
