Coral Springs 22-year-old arrested in fraud scheme that cost man $169K, cops say

A Coral Springs man was arrested in connection with a fraud scheme while trying to pick up $40,000 in cash from one victim in Stuart, police said.

Yican Wu, 22, is charged with scheme to defraud to obtain property at least $20,000 but less than $50,000, and use of a two-way communication device to facilitate a felony, according to Martin County court records.

The Stuart Police Department described the scheme as a “massive fraud ring scamming victims across Florida,” in a Sept. 28 news release.

The investigation began when the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office learned a Bradenton woman had lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in Bitcoin, cash and gift cards, the Stuart Police Department wrote in an arrest affidavit.

Two accused fraudsters were arrested, and investigators looked through their phones and found another victim in Stuart, who had lost over $169,000 in the scheme, police said.

He didn’t realize he was a scam victim until a sergeant from Manatee County contacted him, according to the affidavit.

The victim told investigators that a person named Chris Michael, who he believed to be a federal agent, reached out to him and told him his computer had been hacked, and child pornography had been found on it, according to police.

Chris Michael then told the victim he needed to pay to have the child pornography removed to avoid legal trouble, and if not, the victim would have a “pedophile designation” on his license, police said.

Over the course of two to three months, the victim paid over $169,000 between Bitcoin transfers and cash that he handed over to couriers sent to his home, according to investigators.

Although two members of the scheme were arrested in Manatee County, other suspects continued contacting the victim in Stuart, telling him to be ready to hand over money to workers with the federal government toward the end of September, the man recounted to police.

By that point he knew it was a scam but said Chris Michael was still calling him nearly every day, until they arranged for the victim to give $40,000 in cash to a courier Sept. 24, according to the affidavit.

Law enforcement organized a sting to arrest the person who showed up at the victim’s home that day.

About an hour before the arranged meetup time, Chris Michael began calling the victim asking for a photo of the bank’s withdrawal receipt, then continued calling “demanding additional pictures of the money, videos of the money and video of the money being put into a box then taped shut,” according to the affidavit.

Law enforcement was waiting inside the victim’s home when Wu arrived, but another police officer drove into the parking lot of the complex at the same time, unaware he was interrupting the sting operation, police said.

Wu made a phone call then left, then Chris Michael called the victim saying he wanted to make sure there weren’t any cops in the area, police said.

The victim was instructed to go to a secondary location and stay on the phone with Chris Michael while en route, then law enforcement arrested Wu, officers said.

Wu requested to speak to a lawyer and later posted bond, according to court records.

Stuart is about an 80-mile drive north from Coral Springs.

This story was originally published October 2, 2025 at 3:02 PM.