PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — A Brown University graduate student was charged Thursday with scamming a Florida woman out of $30,000, following an investigation by Homeland Security officials into a web of suspected bank fraud.

Shishuai Li, a 25-year-old computer science student, did not enter a plea during an appearance in Providence District Court on a felony state charge of obtaining money under false pretenses, according to court records. He was ordered held on $3,000 bail and made to surrender his passport.

It wasn't immediately clear whether Li had an attorney, and a court spokesman said Thursday no attorney had yet entered an appearance on Li's behalf. Li did not immediately return an email seeking comment.

A partially redacted police report, first obtained by WPRI-TV and released by Providence Police to The Associated Press, said Homeland Security began investigating Li on Nov. 1, after the Bank of America noticed his account had received around $181,000 in deposits from people around the U.S. Many of those people had been linked to large deposits into other accounts that were closed for bank fraud, the report said.

A few weeks later, on Nov. 27, his account received a $30,000 deposit from a 74-year-old Orlando woman whose name is redacted in the report. The woman told investigators that she had met a man named Luiz on an online dating site for people over age 50. She said Luiz told her he was in his 60s and lived in Florida, and that he was raising money to build a school for underprivileged children in Dubai.

In fact, investigators said in the report, the money went to Li. He was caught on a surveillance camera making transactions with the account at an ATM near his home in Providence, the report said.

The report said that Bank of America froze Li's account. When he called to ask about it Dec. 5, Li reportedly told the bank that the deposits were arranged by a friend who lived overseas and who was lending him money. He said he used the money to pay tuition at the Ivy League university and to pay for rent and other personal expenses, according to the report. He said "he had no idea how his friend arranges for people to deposit money into the account," the report said.

A spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security would not comment on the case.

Li is a first-year master's student in computer science. The school said it learned of Li's arrest on Wednesday.