Sting at a Michigan Woman's Home Leads to Arrest of Alleged Courier in $1 Million Gold-and-Cash Pickup Ring

Published Oct. 15, 2026. Case status is current as of that date.

The caller said he was from the Federal Trade Commission. The woman's identity had been stolen, he told her, and if she didn't act, her children's identities would be next. Over roughly two months, according to the Allegan County Sheriff's Office in Michigan, she handed over close to $500,000, including $237,000 in gold coins picked up at her home by "secure couriers" [1][2].

When the next courier came for $60,000 in cash on June 18, 2026, detectives were waiting inside. Deputies arrested Xiangbo Sun, 24, a Chinese national in the U.S. on a tourist visa, the sheriff's office said. He is charged in Allegan County with larceny by false pretenses involving $50,000 to $100,000 [1][2]. The sheriff's office made the case public on Oct. 12, 2026.

Important: Sun has been charged, not convicted, and is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court. The details below come from the sheriff's office as reported by WWMT News Channel 3, FOX 17 and WSJM. We could not find a public statement from Sun or a defense attorney.

Xiangbo Sun should not be confused with Xuehai Sun, a different defendant in a separate gold courier case.

How the scam worked

According to the sheriff's office [1][2][3]:

1. The fake FTC call. In May, a caller claiming to be from the FTC asked whether she had made online purchases. When she said no, he told her she was a victim of identity theft. Deputies said the caller had specific information about her and her family.
2. The threat. He warned that her children's identities could be stolen next.
3. Remote "monitoring." WWMT reported that the scammers had her load mirroring apps on her phone and computer to monitor her bank accounts.
4. Moving the money. She was told to withdraw money from her retirement and savings accounts and hand it to "secure couriers," and that she would get it back with interest. She sent hundreds of thousands of dollars by wire transfer and check.
5. Gold coins. "She was instructed to cash in some of her retirement savings money," Lt. Mike Brown told WWMT. "And then she took the money from that and went to gold shops and was able to purchase coins there." Couriers picked up $237,000 in coins on two occasions.
6. The code word. For the $60,000 cash pickup, she was given a code that would match the serial number on a dollar bill the courier would hand her, a verification trick the FBI has warned about in courier scams [4].

Her family first contacted the sheriff's office in June after seeing suspicious activity in her bank account, Brown told WWMT [1].

The sting

Allegan County and Kent County detectives set up inside the home, with aerial drones, plainclothes detectives and marked patrol cars nearby. A man came to the door and gave the woman a dollar bill matching the code. She handed over the $60,000, and he was arrested [1].

Deputies said Sun told them others had instructed him to make the pickup, that he would be paid 2% and that he was then to fly from Grand Rapids to New York. A Lyft driver told deputies he had driven Sun from Chicago O'Hare to Allegan County and was supposed to take him to the Grand Rapids airport afterward [1][2].

The person charged

Xiangbo Sun, 24 [1][2]

• Charge (Allegan County, Mich.): larceny by false pretenses, $50,000 to $100,000.
• Custody: held in the Allegan County Jail after a July arraignment. WZZM 13 reported that jail records list a false-pretenses charge and a felony count of being a fugitive from justice, each with a $100,000 cash/surety bond [6].
• Other jurisdictions: deputies said phone records and cell phone data tie him to more than $1 million in fraudulent cash and gold pickups across the country since late May, and that there are now arrest warrants for him in Texas and Virginia. The underlying charges in those states were not described (unconfirmed).
• Court status: we could not confirm the next court date, any plea or the case number (status pending).

The sheriff's office says additional suspects believed to have picked up the gold coins have been identified, but their names are being withheld. So far, the woman has recovered only the $60,000 handed to Sun, and police are looking into addresses where she mailed checks, some of them fake [1].

"I would suspect that it's probably put on by somebody [with] international ties," Brown told WWMT [1].

Red flags

• A call from a federal agency about your identity. The FBI says government officials "will never request payment via prepaid cards, cryptocurrency, or courier" [5].
• Being told to buy gold. "The US Government and legitimate businesses will never request you purchase gold or other precious metals," according to the FBI [4].
• Requests to install apps that let someone see your screen or bank accounts.
• A courier coming to your home, especially with a passcode or dollar-bill serial number to "verify" the handoff.
• Instructions to keep it secret from family or your bank.

What to do if you're targeted

1. Hang up and call the agency yourself using a number from its official website.
2. Don't hand cash, gold or checks to anyone who comes to your door on an agency's behalf.
3. Uninstall any remote-access or screen-sharing app a caller asked you to install, and call your bank.
4. Call local police right away if a pickup is scheduled. In this case, a call to police led to the arrest.
5. Report it to the FBI at ic3.gov. The FBI asks victims to include as much transaction information as possible, including who contacted them, phone numbers used and the name of any metal dealer [4]. People 60 and older can call the National Elder Fraud Hotline, 1-833-372-8311.

Case status (as of Oct. 15, 2026)

Defendant	Court	Status as of Oct. 15, 2026	Source
Xiangbo Sun, 24	Allegan County, Mich.	Arrested June 18, 2026; charged with larceny by false pretenses ($50,000–$100,000); held in Allegan County Jail after July arraignment ($100,000 bond on each of two charges, per WZZM); next court date and plea status pending; arrest warrants reported in Texas and Virginia	[1], [2], [3], [6]

Statuses can change. Charges are allegations, not findings of guilt.

Sources

1. Ivy S. Fowler and Colin Roose, "Chinese national arrested, tied to $1M scammed across US, $500K from Allegan elderly woman," WWMT News Channel 3, Oct. 12, 2026. https://wwmt.com/news/local/chinese-national-arrested-tied-1m-fraud-scam-allegan-county-elderly-woman-retirement-savings-account-may-sting-operation-sheriffs-office-multi-state-gold-coins-western-michigan
2. Max White, "Chinese national accused of $1M nationwide fraud scheme arrested in Allegan County," FOX 17 West Michigan, accessed Oct. 15, 2026. https://www.fox17online.com/news/local-news/chinese-national-accused-of-1m-nationwide-fraud-scheme-arrested-in-allegan-county
3. "Chinese national arrested after Allegan County woman defrauded of nearly $500,000," 94.9 WSJM, Oct. 12, 2026. https://www.wsjm.com/2026/10/12/chinese-national-arrested-after-allegan-county-woman-defrauded-of-nearly-500000/
4. FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center, "Scammers Use Couriers to Retrieve Cash and Precious Metals from Victims of Tech Support and Government Impersonation Scams," Alert I-012924-PSA, Jan. 29, 2024. https://www.ic3.gov/PSA/2024/PSA240129
5. FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center, "Scammers Impersonating Law Enforcement and Government Officials in Fraud Schemes," Alert I-091726-PSA, Sept. 17, 2026. https://www.ic3.gov/PSA/2026/PSA260917
6. Michael Martin, "Sheriff: About $237K in gold coins stolen from Allegan County woman in month-long scheme," WZZM 13, Oct. 12, 2026. https://www.wzzm13.com/article/news/investigations/sheriff-about-237k-in-gold-coins-stolen-from-allegan-county-woman-in-month-long-scheme/69-38438557-8aa4-452a-8558-3a4d1e8272c8

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