[SPEAKER_00]: Welcome back to USA Unsolved, where we visit unsolved cases from the Asian community here in the United States.
[SPEAKER_00]: Today we are discussing another case out of California, and it is extremely recent, only from about a year ago.
[SPEAKER_00]: Hopefully that just means it's a question of one and not if.
[SPEAKER_00]: So today's case involves a senior.
[SPEAKER_00]: And in today's world, specifically when it comes to technology, the elderly are even more vulnerable.
[SPEAKER_00]: Not all, but we see it happen from time to time.
[SPEAKER_00]: phone scams, text scams, email scams, you name it.
[SPEAKER_00]: We've all experienced something along those lines, like those scammy texts asking you to pay something or what not.
[SPEAKER_00]: While this case is not entirely about being scammed, there are signs and more than that, it involves the possible kidnapping of a senior citizen.
[SPEAKER_00]: His name is Hole Niping, and the last day anyone ever made contact with Hole was around mid-March of 2025.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's more to this, so let's get to it.
[SPEAKER_00]: Mr. Ho Niping is an immigrant originally from Shanshi Province in China.
[SPEAKER_00]: He took his entire family and moved to the United States, where he hoped to explore new opportunities for himself and for his kids.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not sure how many kids he has, but I know for a fact that he has at least one son, who is still actively speaking out and searching for his father.
[SPEAKER_00]: An important piece of information that will come up later is the fact that one, his son, is a very successful cryptocurrency investor.
[SPEAKER_00]: An article from 2021 stated that he purchased a $9.7 million home, so I guess he is, or at least, was pretty successful in his trade.
[SPEAKER_00]: As of 2025, Ho was 74 years old, semi-retired, and living with his wife in Rancho Cucamonga, a city, a little west of San Bernardino.
[SPEAKER_00]: In March of 2025, hosts son, Wen, had gone to visit his parents and the entire family had gone on a family fishing trip at the Sun Pedro Pier.
[SPEAKER_00]: After his son returned home, things began to change.
[SPEAKER_00]: Her news reports, it appeared that Wen had kept in touch with his father, but only via text.
[SPEAKER_00]: One had tried to convince his father to come visit him and his family, as it was more difficult for him to travel as he had young kids.
[SPEAKER_00]: His father, though, would respond in ways that seemed strange, or at least, unlike him.
[SPEAKER_00]: Basically, he found excuses to not get on the phone, excuses to not visit his son.
[SPEAKER_00]: This went on from mid-March to around early May, when his son's initial worries became
[SPEAKER_00]: Early may happen to be Hose Brite, and because he had declined via text to visit one and his family, when they started to send a present to his father.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was handmade Chinese noodles.
[SPEAKER_00]: On the day of his father's birthday, when tried calling, and his calls all went unanswered.
[SPEAKER_00]: When he texted to ask if his father had received a gift, all he got was a quote, yes, I receive it, unquote.
[SPEAKER_00]: Not even a thank you.
[SPEAKER_00]: At this point, alarm bells were going off, so when called the local police on May 4th and explained the situation, his father was alone at the moment as his mother was traveling in China visiting relatives.
[SPEAKER_00]: He was worried as his father had not been acting like himself in recent weeks, so the police understood what he was saying and made a trip over to the whole family home.
[SPEAKER_00]: just a quick welfare check.
[SPEAKER_00]: If Ho was around, hopefully he could answer some questions.
[SPEAKER_00]: But Ho was not home.
[SPEAKER_00]: In fact, the house was nearly empty, personal items, furniture, even the kitchen utensil drawers had been emptied out.
[SPEAKER_00]: The property was almost entirely cleaned out.
[SPEAKER_00]: Someone had left paint buckets, and parts of the walls had random sloppy paint jobs, as if done in a hurry.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is obviously super bizarre, as the house was not on the market, ho had no intentions to move or go anywhere, and though sporadic, he had somewhat kept in touch with his family in their family group chat.
[SPEAKER_00]: Once one discovered what the police had found during their welfare check, he wondered if the person that had been texting him was even his father to begin with.
[SPEAKER_00]: Was it possible that he was robbed clean and someone took his phone pretending to be his father to delay one from looking too closely?
[SPEAKER_00]: Soon enough, the police were all over this.
[SPEAKER_00]: Ho was missing, possibly kidnapped.
[SPEAKER_00]: Could the kidnappers have wanted more from his family?
[SPEAKER_00]: Knowing that a son is basically rich?
[SPEAKER_00]: Like I mentioned, his son is huge in the crypto world, but he also serves as the chief investment officer at Coincident Capital, based in Las Vegas.
[SPEAKER_00]: But the odd thing is that when never received any suspicious phone calls, no ransom demands.
[SPEAKER_00]: That would have been a huge indication of kidnapping.
[SPEAKER_00]: But the police dug further into host digital footprint and realized that someone had most likely used his phone, not just to impersonate him via text messages, but also to make extensive fraudulence transactions, essentially draining his entire retirement and savings account.
[SPEAKER_00]: Mara Rodriguez, a spokesperson for the sheriff's office at stated, quote, there's been a significant amount of unauthorized activity in his bank account.
[SPEAKER_00]: Unquote.
[SPEAKER_00]: I am not rich enough to understand this, but apparently you can also purchase gold bars online from your savings account, and that's what the police found.
[SPEAKER_00]: That hoe, or whoever was using his phone, had purchased cryptocurrency and gold bars worth over a million dollars.
[SPEAKER_00]: According to one, quote, he has never bought gold in his life.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's not an online savvy person.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know if being tech savvy would have made a difference in host case though, because if he was kidnapped, say held at gunpoint, or the lives of his family members were threatened, he would probably have given anything to save his and their lives.
[SPEAKER_00]: In short, quote, there has been unexplained and suspicious activity with nightpings financial accounts and property.
[SPEAKER_00]: Draining of his accounts are not the right sales of his vehicles, gifting of items and the attempted renting of his home, on quote.
[SPEAKER_00]: The sheriff's office had stated,
[SPEAKER_00]: Some of the evidence found seems to indicate that those involved with host disappearance and theft may have ties to the Los Angeles area or the inland empire area.
[SPEAKER_00]: Clearly, whoever these people are seem to be very sneaky and deceptive.
[SPEAKER_00]: probably skilled with tech, something along those lines.
[SPEAKER_00]: While the police seem to be investigating this, they have not come out with information to share with the public as it is an ongoing investigation.
[SPEAKER_00]: Perhaps they don't want any leads to get leaked, which would then notify those involved.
[SPEAKER_00]: As for one, he has a suspicion set on a few contractors that worked at his parents' home earlier that year.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't like jumping to conclusions, but this is also not unheard of.
[SPEAKER_00]: People come and do work at your house, maybe to see that you are well off.
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe they found out his son is basically a crypto guru and heard about his multi-million dollar home purchase.
[SPEAKER_00]: So they come up with a plan, and since you're technically not complete strangers, they use it as their way to sneak into your house.
[SPEAKER_00]: One thing that makes this case a bit difficult in my point of view is the fact that there was about a month and a half between one last saw his father and when he was reported missing.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mentioned that his wife was traveling in China at the time, but I also do not know when she left, how long she's been gone, or when she was due to return.
[SPEAKER_00]: Was she perhaps gone the entire time?
[SPEAKER_00]: or the criminals watching, waiting to get them alone, as it would be less of a hassle.
[SPEAKER_00]: What's important to note is that at some point before discovering how, as missing, how or more likely somebody else had sent her a text message telling her to cancel her flight home.
[SPEAKER_00]: The text also said that he would fly to China and join her instead.
[SPEAKER_00]: Clearly, whoever was behind this knew about his family affairs and tried to cover all bases.
[SPEAKER_00]: Again, because of the awkward timing, it's hard to say when Ho actually disappeared.
[SPEAKER_00]: I would have assumed that Ho's house or some of the neighbors would have a camera set up.
[SPEAKER_00]: would that have captured anything incriminating?
[SPEAKER_00]: If they managed to empty their whole house, essentially stealing everything down to every fork and spoon, isn't it possible that some of this was at least cotton camera or a neighbor saw something?
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to assume that the police know more than they're revealing.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I really hope that that's the case.
[SPEAKER_00]: has been about a year now, and updates are few and far in between.
[SPEAKER_00]: The family is desperate to get their father back, so once set up a website dedicated to his father's disappearance, at findnipinghole.com.
[SPEAKER_00]: Ho is 74 years old, around 57, or 170 centimeters tall.
[SPEAKER_00]: weighing at approximately 170 pounds.
[SPEAKER_00]: He has gray or salt and pepper hair, and he has a brith mark on his upper left shoulder and a surgery mark on his lower back.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you have any tips on hose whereabouts or anyone who may be involved with his disappearance, please reach out to the number listed in the show notes.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's also a section to report tips on the Find Niping Hole website.
[SPEAKER_00]: As a today, one has offered a reward of up to $250,000 to any leads that either bring his father home safe and sound, or identification, arrest, and conviction of those who took his father, distort his home, stole his life savings, and tore a family apart.
[SPEAKER_00]: I will continue to monitor this case as it progresses, and although we are already a year in, I won't lose hope.
[SPEAKER_00]: Just as needs to be served.
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for tuning into this case.
[SPEAKER_00]: Please remember to be kind, be aware, and watch out for anything vaguely scammy.
[SPEAKER_00]: Till next time.