ARCHBALD, Pa. — A California man who authorities said conspired to scam a Lackawanna County man out of $361,000 by promising love and wealth found himself in handcuffs this week when he arrived in Archbald to pick up payment.
Jiahao Xiao, 29, conspired with other unknown people to deceive Ferdinando Santarelli, of Archbald, into wiring money that Santarelli believed was invested in companies, Lackawanna County detectives said.
Newswatch 16 reached out to Santarelli. The 59-year-old declined to speak at length, but said he has not yet recovered the money he wired to the alleged scammers.
Santarelli was lured into the scam by "Jennie," an online persona with whom he chatted on the encrypted messaging app Telegram, according to charging documents. "Jennie" said she loved him.
The scammers also assured Santarelli he had access to more than $2 million in an investment account. However, he first needed to pay off hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxes, police said.
The two sides arranged for a $175,000 cash payment Thursday. The person picking up the cash would confirm who they are by carrying a dollar bill with the serial number L34977442E, court documents show. By this point, county detectives were investigating.
A man named "Daniel" would pick up his $175,000 "tax" payment. In reality, it was a San Francisco Bay area man named Xiao.
Xiao pulled up to Santarelli's home at 2:10 p.m. in a 2023 Ford SUV rented in Queens, New York. As promised, Xiao brought with him a $1 bill with the agreed upon serial number.
Xiao is jailed at the Lackawanna County Prison in lieu of $500,000 bail. A preliminary hearing is tentatively scheduled Friday on various theft-related counts.
A court docket does not reflect that Xiao has an attorney.
