Bizarre texts had been the primary clue that one thing sinister had occurred to an aged Rancho Cucamonga man linked to an unlimited cryptocurrency fortune.
They started with robotic responses in a household group chat, included an uncharacteristic refusal to go to his grandkids and had been adopted by full silence.
Now, the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Division is investigating the mysterious disappearance of 74-year-old Naiping Hou, father of famous cryptocurrency investor Wen Hou.
A $250,000 reward is being supplied for info resulting in Naiping Hou’s return or discovering these liable for his disappearance.
(Courtesy FindNaipingHou.com)
Detectives imagine that somebody used the elder Hou’s cellphone to impersonate him. Intensive fraudulent transactions had been additionally made utilizing his checking account across the time of his disappearance, in keeping with the Sheriff’s Division.
Wen Hou stated that greater than $1 million was siphoned from his father’s financial savings and used to buy gold bars on-line.
The youthful Hou believes his father has been kidnapped and is personally providing a reward of as much as $250,000 for info that results in his father’s return or identifies these liable for his disappearance.
“We actually are devastated, actually unhappy, and we wish him again if attainable,” Wen Hou advised The Instances. “We’re fairly upset about how this was found so late and a bit upset about ourselves that we didn’t discover these clues earlier.”
Wen Hou final noticed his father in March after they rented a ship on the San Pedro Pier and went on a household fishing journey.
The weird texts started in April, however it wasn’t till Naiping Hou’s birthday on Might 3 that his son started to suspect another person was controlling his father’s telephone.
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The elder Hou had declined by way of textual content to come back go to his son and grandchildren at their Las Vegas residence on his birthday, so Wen Hou overnighted him a standard reward of handmade Chinese language noodles. Whoever was controlling his telephone refused to reply any calls on the birthday and, as an alternative of thanking Wen Hou for the reward, merely texted at 9:18 p.m.: “Sure I obtain it.”
The next morning, Wen Hou requested household pals to go examine in on his father in Rancho Cucamonga. They discovered the noodle package deal sitting on the stoop and made an much more alarming discovery inside.
The house was stripped of all its furnishings and had a shoddy new paint job on the inside partitions, Wen Hou stated. His father’s automobiles had been lacking from his storage, and the person himself was nowhere to be seen.
Naiping Hou’s Rancho Cucamonga dwelling was discovered stripped of furnishings and with new inside paint.
(Courtesy FindNaipingHou.com)
Wen Hou reported his father’s disappearance to the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Division on Might 4.
The elder Hou’s spouse was visiting household in China when he’s believed to have gone lacking, in keeping with his household. Whereas overseas she obtained a textual content from Hou’s telephone telling her to cancel her flight dwelling, saying that he would come be a part of her in Asia.
Detectives say they’re following a number of leads however are unable to share additional info because the investigation is ongoing.
They’re asking the general public to maintain an eye fixed out for the 5-foot-7 Asian man, who has black hair, black eyes and a birthmark on his left higher shoulder and weighs round 170 kilos. They’re additionally looking for details about a silver Toyota Yaris in connection to Hou’s disappearance.
Anybody with details about the case is requested to contact Det. Vanayes Quezada at (909) 890-4848.
Naiping Hou, together with his spouse, was final seen by his son on March 18.
(Courtesy FindNaipingHou.com)
Annoyed by the dearth of updates within the investigation, Wen Hou launched an internet site this week devoted to elevating consciousness about his father’s disappearance. The household is asking the general public to share info by way of textual content, WhatsApp or Sign to their private tip line at (213) 564-9366.
“We’re actually unhappy and it feels horrible to attend and really devastating to expertise this,” stated Wen Hou.
Though Wen Hou doesn’t know who’s behind the attainable crimes towards his father, he fears that contractors who carried out work on Hou’s dwelling originally of the 12 months might have preyed on his father and even kidnapped him.
“I hope this serves as a warning for aged individuals,” he stated, including that his father’s disappearance has opened his eyes to how frequent it’s for criminals to reap the benefits of the aged.
Wen Hou is a well known hedge fund and cryptocurrency investor who serves because the chief funding officer at Coincident Capital.
In 2021, he spent $9.7 million on a Bel-Air dwelling, in keeping with reporting from the Actual Deal. In 2022, he and his spouse gifted $1.1 million in cryptocurrency to the USC Keck College of Drugs to assist analysis on coronary heart illness.
Wen Hou credit a lot of his success to the teachings taught to him by his father, who was born within the Shaanxi province of China and immigrated to the San Gabriel Valley in pursuit of a greater life for his youngsters.
“My journey has been a protracted one, and it began with my father’s choice to maneuver to the U.S.,” Hou advised USC in 2022. “I’m grateful to him for giving me the chance to thrive within the U.S. and permitting me to achieve my potential, which has resulted on this reward.”
Via shrewd enterprise selections, Naiping Hou did effectively financially and retired comfortably — reaching what Wen Hou considers the American dream, he stated. The elder Hou is a household man and enjoys hobbies corresponding to ping-pong, woodworking and fishing.
