The St. Paul Police Department (“SPPD”) began investigating KY KAO [DOB REDACTED] in 2024 after receiving reports that he had received thousands of dollars from multiple victims through a fraudulent rental scheme. The victims reported that Kao conducted his fraudulent scheme by advertising to rent the home at [ADDRESS REDACTED] East in St. Paul, Ramsey County, Minnesota. The victims indicated that, after meeting and corresponding with Kao about terms to rent the home, they proceeded to make initial payments for a deposit to Kao.
However, Kao never ultimately made the home available for the victims to move in and instead proceeded to keep the thousands of dollars each victim paid for the purported rental deposit. Ramsey County Theft-by-Swindle Case #••-CR-••-•••• NH was one of the victims to report Kao’s fraudulent rental scheme to SPPD. Her report led to the filing of a felony theft-by-swindle charge against Kao in Ramsey County Court File #••-CR-••-••••. NH’s report illustrates how Kao carried out his fraud scheme. NH first communicated with Kao when she responded to a rental listing on Zillow for the home at [ADDRESS REDACTED] East.
NH and her friend engaged in text message communications with Kao regarding the rental listing. After providing a tour of the residence, Kao promised to lease the residence to NH by April 1, 2024. Kao demanded a deposit of $2,500 toward the rental right away. On March 4, 2024, NH met Kao at a US Bank branch in Burnsville. While at the bank, NH withdrew $2,500 in cash from her bank account, and she gave that amount to Kao. Based on Kao’s representations, NH believed this cash payment served as the deposit for the rental of the residence.
Kao also a receipt to NH indicating the $2,500 payment was the deposit for the rental. Kao indicated to NH and her friend that they had a verbal agreement for the rental and that, if NH and her friend ultimately decided to not rent the residence, he would refund the deposit payment to them. In the following days, NH received further text messages from Kao requesting an additional payment for the first month of rent. NH responded by suggesting that she hold off on paying the first month of rent until she would receive the keys to the rental from Kao.
However, Kao continued to press for an early payment of the first month of rent by claiming he would be out of town at the beginning of April, when he had represented that the rental would be available to NH and her friend to move in. After receiving these suspicious communications from Kao, NH and her friend decided that they no longer wanted to rent the residence. NH requested a return of the $2,500 she had paid to Kao. In the ensuing months, Kao repeatedly communicated to NH that he would return her money to her.
Over the course of these communications, Kao gave NH multiple dates when he said he would return the money. After Kao repeatedly failed to return the money to her, NH reported the incident to SPPD. Additional Incidents Included in Resolution of #••-CR-••-•••• At a hearing on May 19, 2026, Kao pled guilty to the theft-by-swindle charge in Ramsey County Court File #••-CR-••-••••. The plea agreement calls for Kao to serve a guideline prison sentence to run concurrent with sentences to be imposed in Hennepin County Court File #••-CR-••-•••• and Scott County Court File #••-CR-••-••••. The plea agreement also provides for the Ramsey County District Court to order the payment of restitution to additional victims of Kao’s rental fraud scheme, along with giving those victims the opportunity to present impact statements at Kao’s sentencing hearing in Ramsey County. 2 ••-CR-••-•••• Filed in District Court State of Minnesota 6/3/2026 The additional victims include: DSD (SPPD case number 23-171-853): DSD paid Kao $6,000 as a deposit for 200 East Larpenteur.
