Greg's Corner

Gold bar scammers scammed by police

By Greg Collier

When it comes to collecting money from their victims, scammers prefer instant and untraceable forms of payment. In that vein, scammers frequently ask for payment in gift cards, cryptocurrency, money transfers, or through payment apps like Zelle and Venmo. Some scammers even try to coax cold hard cash out of their victims. While cash is largely untraceable, it presents problems when trying to collect it. When a scammer asks for cash, they usually ask for it to be sent through courier services like UPS.

Then, every once in a while, there are scammers who demand payment in one of the most conspicuous ways possible, gold bars. While technically untraceable, not only does the movement of gold attract a lot of attention, most people wouldn’t know how to convert their cash into gold in a short amount of time.

That didn’t stop some scammers from trying their hands at getting some gold out of an elderly couple from Georgia. The couple received one of those infamous pop-ups on their computer that said their computer had been hacked. They called the number included in the message, and talked to a phony tech support call center.

The fake support representative told the couple they definitely had a virus, then asked if they ever used their computer for online banking. They said they did, and the scammer asked which bank they used. After telling the scammer, the couple was told they were being transferred to their bank’s fraud department, which was just another member of the scam ring.

The scammer posing as the fraud department told the couple their accounts had been compromised, and close to $200,000 in fraudulent transactions could leave them penniless. Then they were transferred to someone claiming to be an agent of the Federal Trade Commission. Again, this was just another scammer. However, the phony federal agent told the couple that in order to protect their money, they would need to withdraw their savings and convert into gold bars. The gold bars would need to be sent to Washington, D.C., where the FTC would issue a check to the couple. A courier would have to come to the couple’s home to pick up the gold.

Currently, gold is around $2000 per ounce. For $200,000 that would be 100 ounces, which is 6.25 lbs of gold, or roughly 3 kilograms. The couple purchased the gold from a legitimate gold seller in Texas, but before they gave the gold to the scammers, they went to their local police.

Knowing this was a scam, police set up a sting operation and waited for the courier to show up. Once he did, police were quick to apprehend him. It’s believed the scammer flew from Southern California to Georgia just to steal from the couple.

This couple should be commended for following their gut when they did. Too often, we’ve seen elderly victims lose their life savings to less convoluted scams.

Anytime someone you don’t know is telling you that you need to move your money to protect it, or pay yourself, they are trying to scam you. Moving your money is not a thing, and it doesn’t matter if you’re being told this by someone claiming to be from your bank, law enforcement, or any other position of authority, the person telling you this is an impostor.