Story by Ethan
On October 10th, 2025, the arrest of Tiffany Yang, age 35, was announced by Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz. Tiffany Yang was charged with first-degree Grand Larceny, first-degree Criminal Possession of Stolen Property, first-degree Scheme to Defraud six counts of second-degree Grand Larceny, seven counts of second-degree Criminal Possession of a Forged Instrument, and eleven counts of third-degree Grand Larceny. The arrest and charges against Tiffany Yang were a result of an investigation handled by Detective Eleni Karasakalides and various members from the District Attorney’s Detective Bureau and Cybercrime Unit within the Major Economic Crimes Bureau.
According to the Queens District Attorney’s Office, one victim reported chatting on Facebook messenger with a user named “Lily List”, later identified as Tiffany Yang, in March 2023. After several conversations the two of them moved their texting to another app, WhatsApp, which is end-to-end encrypted. Through WhatsApp Tiffany Yang had introduced this victim to the trading platform Spread Ex..The URL given to the victim was very similar to Spread Ex Ltd.’s URL, a credible financial and betting services company, and Tiffany Yang directed this victim to use Spread Ex. for investment opportunities. The victim began to withdraw money from his personal bank account and wire it through what he believed to be his Spread Ex Ltd. account. The total amount deposited accumulated to $1,086,244 through 13 separate wire transfers from March 2023 to February 2024. During this time period the victim was able to log into the alleged website in order to track and check on his supposed investments, however when he went to withdraw money the website barred him from doing so. Shortly after the victim would end up losing access to his alleged account on the website, before Spread Ex Ltd. was removed altogether.
An investigation launched into the victims’ losses uncovered that one wire transfer was made to a JP Morgan Chase bank account linked to the address of 153-53 77th Avenue Apartment 2B in Flushing, New York. Records revealed 97 JP Morgan Chase customers using the same address, most of them being business accounts, however several wire transfers were shown to be recalled or deemed as fraudulent by the senders. 16 other victims were identified to have fallen to the same scam between August 2023 and January 2024 allegedly run by Tiffany Yang. Every victim reported speaking with a woman online about a financial investment opportunity and would wire money to the individual believing they were moving money into successful investments. However, every time a victim would attempt to withdraw any money they would lose access to all investment accounts. Detectives investigating deed records found out that Tiffany Yang was the registered owner of the condominium. The IP address used to log into the JP Morgan Chase bank account for Chen Graceful Nails Inc. was traced back to the defendant’s residence in Bayside, New York. A court-authorized search warrant executed at Tiffany Yang’s residence led to her arrest for the possession of an unloaded .45-caliber pistol. Officers also recovered bank receipts, cashier checks, business checks, debit cards, forged U.S. visas, and several U.S. and Chinese passports indicating fraudulent activity.
The Queens District Attorney’s Office stated that the charges against Tiffany Yang are merely accusations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
