Across the country, scammers impersonating federal officials are sending couriers to seniors’ homes with coded passwords to collect gold bars—sometimes wiping out victims’ entire retirement savings.
In Laramie, Wyoming, investigators said an elderly woman handed roughly $131,000 worth of gold to a courier after fraudsters posing as Federal Trade Commission employees warned that her finances were in danger. The group reportedly persuaded her to purchase as much as $460,000 in gold, according to the Laramie Boomerang. Police opened the investigation on Sept. 22.
The owner of a local coin shop became suspicious and alerted police, believing the woman was being deceived. Authorities later arrested Jithin Sunny, who faces a felony theft charge.
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Jithin Sunny was arrested in Laramie, Wyoming, during an undercover operation involving an alleged gold scam targeting an elderly woman, authorities said. (Albany County Sheriff’s Department)
The coin dealer, police and the victim worked together to create an elaborate sting operation. They borrowed one-ounce gold bars from another dealer, staged a photograph of the supposed purchase and coordinated with the woman’s credit union to temporarily approve a $500,000 transaction, making the scam appear legitimate. On Oct. 2, the victim agreed to meet a courier at a Qdoba restaurant in Laramie.
The two parties selected “tulip” as the password for the exchange. Instead of the victim, however, an undercover detective went to the restaurant and posed as her.
Sunny, a Canadian citizen, told investigators that he had been recruited through Instagram for what he believed was a delivery job in the United States. He said he thought he would be transporting antiques to wealthy clients.
Following his arrest, Sunny maintained that he was unaware of the fraud. He said he had been instructed to travel to Laramie, collect a package from one person and deliver it to another courier.
The FBI has described the scheme as a “sophisticated, multi-layer scam” designed to exploit older Americans.
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Central banks around the world are adding to their gold reserves as they seek protection against inflation, geopolitical tensions and economic uncertainty. (Oscar Del Pozo/AFP/Getty Images)
Authorities in Wisconsin reported a comparable case after a woman encountered a Facebook pop-up on her laptop warning that the device had a virus. The alert provided a phone number that purportedly connected users with someone who could protect their personal information, according to the Marquette County Sheriff’s Office.
When the woman called, a man allegedly claimed he was transferring her to the Federal Trade Commission’s fraud division. The people on the line then told her that someone had attempted to empty her savings account through a wire transfer, but that the transaction had been stopped.
The alleged scammers instructed the victim to safeguard her money by withdrawing it, converting it into gold bars and waiting for an “officer” to pick up the metal at her home. She followed the directions, purchased gold, photographed the bars and placed them in a bag for collection.
According to the sheriff’s office, the victim spent much of Oct. 20 speaking by phone with a man who identified himself as “Sam.” When a deputy arrived at the residence, “Sam” reportedly told her to end the conversation, share no information with the deputy and call him again after the officer left.
Once contact resumed, “Sam” allegedly directed the woman to carry the gold outside and wait for a courier. Investigators arrested the man who arrived to collect it. He was identified as Dhavalkumar Dashrathgiri Bava and taken into custody on a felony conspiracy charge involving an alleged theft of more than $100,000 through false representation. The charge includes an enhanced penalty because the alleged victim was elderly.
Gold has long been viewed as a safe-haven asset during periods of war, inflation and market volatility because, unlike currencies or government debt, it isn’t tied to the financial health of any single country. (Matt Jelonek/Bloomberg/Getty Images)
Tom Hyslip, a former Secret Service agent and University of South Florida cybercrime professor, told News Outlet that the operation appears to be the work of “organized criminal gangs.”
“A lot of them operate out of Africa. There have been many indictments and arrests over the years involving these kinds of schemes,” Hyslip said. He noted that the criminals continually change their approach, moving from the classic “Nigerian prince” email to investment fraud and kidnapping hoaxes.
“Now they’re taking their time, pretending to represent a government agency or a bank, establishing a relationship and earning the victim’s confidence before making the demand,” he said.
