ST. FRANCISVILLE — The St. Francisville Police Department is attempting to locate a man who is accused of running a phone scam that stole over $300,000 from a West Feliciana Parish resident. 

According to the police department, on June 10, officers received a complaint from a man who claimed to have been scammed by 39-year-old Renqing Chen of Pittsburg, California. 

The man claimed to have begun receiving phone calls in 2025 from someone who claimed to be an employee of the Attorney General's Office before telling the man that he had an active warrant out for his arrest. 

The caller told the man that he needed to remove money from his accounts as the Department of Treasury would allegedly seize his assets. The man was later instructed to transfer bitcoin and eventually told to purchase gold before transferring it to a courier.

The man lost over $300,000 as the deception went on for months.

Chen is wanted on several charges, including theft over $25k, unlawful production, manufacturing, distribution, or possession of fraudulent documents for identification purposes and false personation.

Anyone with information regarding this incident is encouraged to contact the St. Francisville Police Department.