Man charged with theft involving McHenry County woman’s compromised Social Security benefits

A California man accused of stealing $30,000 from a McHenry County woman was booked and then released from the McHenry County jail last week, court records show.

Bo Zhao, 50, of Temple City, was charged in July with theft of between $10,000 and $100,000, a Class 2 felony, according to the criminal complaint.

The case was impounded until this week.

Zhao is accused of exercising unauthorized control of $30,000 received by wire from a woman in McHenry County, according to the complaint. The funds “were sent under false pretenses” and involved the woman’s “Social Security benefits being compromised,” according to the complaint.

Zhao is accused of sending the funds to a bank in China.

Zhao “is associated with fraudulent activity” throughout the U.S. with one case in McHenry County, McHenry County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Emily Matusek said on Monday.

The McHenry County woman was notified as part of the scam that her Social Security was compromised and to avoid losing more money, instructed to move money to a “safe account,” Matusek said. She moved $50,000 in various forms, including U.S. currency and bitcoin, to the “safe account,” which was actually an account linked to a bank in China, she said.

The fraud was conducted over phone and email, Matusek said.

Zhao was booked into the McHenry County Jail on Aug. 17 and released the next day after posting 10% of the $300,000 bond, according to the jail log and court records.

He is being represented by the McHenry County Public Defender’s Office, court records show.