A California man accused of stealing $100,000 from an 89-year-old he met at McDonald’s has pleaded not guilty to felony charges.
William Bao Khoa Ly, 26, of Simi Valley, was arrested Aug. 4 and charged with theft from an elder or dependent adult, grand theft, and unauthorized use of personal identifying information, according to the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office. He posted $50,000 bail roughly 14 hours after his arrest and is due back in Ventura County Superior Court on Sept. 22.
Prosecutors allege Ly met the 89-year-old victim in June 2024 at a McDonald’s restaurant in Thousand Oaks and claimed he was proficient with electronic devices.
“Ly met the victim in June 2024 at a McDonald’s restaurant in Thousand Oaks. Ly claimed that hewas proficient with electronic devices and could assist the victim with technology,” the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office said in a news release.
The alleged friendship quickly became a regular routine. Ly began visiting the elderly man approximately two to three times a week, prosecutors said.
“After befriending the victim, Ly began visiting him regularly, approximately two to three times a week. During those visits, Ly allegedly obtained the victim’s cell phone PIN and used it to access the victim’s bank and cryptocurrency accounts,” the release added.
Prosecutors allege Ly then used that access to make nearly 91 transactions totaling about $100,000 from the victim’s bank account into cryptocurrency accounts controlled by Ly.
The victim’s bank caught the alleged fraud and managed to recover more than $50,000 of the stolen funds, according to the district attorney’s office.
Ly was charged with felony counts of theft from an elder or dependent adult, grand theft, and unauthorized use of personal identifying information. He pleaded not guilty to all of the charges.
Booking records list Ly as 6 feet, 2 inches tall and identify his occupation as a “care salesman” — apparently a typo for car salesman.
The case comes as authorities continue warning about sophisticated scams targeting older Californians. In July, a Sonoma County woman was reportedly targeted by an organized criminal network specifically looking to prey on elderly victims, according to a community alert.
In the viral moment that sparked the charges, Ly allegedly turned a chance encounter at a fast-food restaurant into a year-long scheme, exploiting an elderly man’s trust and limited tech knowledge to drain his savings through dozens of unauthorized crypto transactions. The routine visits that began as friendly tech help allegedly became the mechanism for a systematic financial exploitation that only ended when the victim’s bank flagged the unusual activity.
Ly is scheduled to return to Ventura County Superior Court on Sept. 22.