NEW YORK (VINnews) — A Brooklyn man was sentenced to up to 4½ years in prison for his role in a government impersonation scam that stole $18,200 from a 22-year-old Jewish woman in Williamsburg who was falsely told she faced arrest, prosecutors said.

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Weiwei Xu, 39, of Sunset Park, was sentenced Wednesday by Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Elizabeth Warin to 1½ to 4½ years in prison. He pleaded guilty in August to third-degree grand larceny, according to the Brooklyn district attorney’s office.

The victim received a phone call in July 2025 from someone claiming to be a U.S. marshal. The caller falsely told her that a warrant had been issued for her arrest on money-laundering charges and that her identity had been compromised, prosecutors said.

The caller kept the woman on the phone for more than four hours and instructed her to withdraw $13,000 from her bank account and deposit it into another account.

When the bank blocked the transaction because of suspected fraud, the caller allegedly told the woman to return home and wait for someone to collect the cash.

Two unidentified men later arrived at her home. One provided a passcode that the caller had given the woman and took the $13,000, according to prosecutors.

SCAMMER ARRESTED! ⁦@NYPD79Pct⁩ with the help of ⁦@WspuShomrim⁩ arrested a Scammer on Willoughby Ave & Franklin Ave which scammed a Few Thousand Dollars from a woman last week and returned today to scam again, he was met by PD and was arrested. pic.twitter.com/IOXLzFlPVL

— WILLIAMSBURG NEWS (@WMSBG) July 22, 2025

The caller continued contacting the woman over the following days. On July 20, she contacted Shomrim and called 911. A police officer who responded to her home answered another call from the scammer and identified himself as an officer, telling the caller to stop contacting the victim.

Later that day, the scammer allegedly demanded another $5,200 and told the woman that an undercover detective would collect the money.

The woman reported the planned pickup to Shomrim and police. Two days later, prosecutors said, Xu drove a black Cadillac to her home at about 12:55 p.m. and met her outside.

Xu allegedly provided the prearranged passcode, identified himself as “Jack” and took the $5,200. He was stopped shortly afterward by Shomrim and police, who recovered the money from his vehicle and arrested him.

The Brooklyn district attorney’s office said investigators later identified 12 telephone numbers connected to the scheme. The scammers used internet-based phone services with IP addresses in several countries in Asia.

Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez warned that government impersonation scams are designed to frighten victims into handing over money.

The Brooklyn DA’s office maintains a Frauds Bureau that investigates scams involving people who falsely claim to be public officials or law enforcement officers.

Prosecutors said the case was handled by the district attorney’s Blue Zone Trial Bureau.