Fake federal agents push seniors to turn savings into gold bars for couriers to collect
Scammers posing as federal agents across the country are dispatching couriers armed with secret passwords to collect gold bars from retirees, in some cases draining their life savings.
Key points
- INSIDE OPERATION BLACKOUT: PATEL REVEALS GLOBAL SCAM ‘CITIES’ TARGETING YOUR PARENTS’ LIFE SAVINGS The FBI calls it a "sophisticated, multi-layer scam" that targets seniors.
- TRUMP ADMIN’S FRAUD CRACKDOWN TARGETS FOREIGNERS ACCUSED OF INFILTRATING US FEDERAL PROGRAMS Tom Hyslip, former Secret Service agent and professor of cybercrime at the University of South Florida, told Fox News Digital that the scam is operated by " organized criminal gangs." "A lot of them operate out of Africa.
- LISTEN TO THE NEW 'CRIME & JUSTICE WITH DONNA ROTUNNO' PODCAST When the victim resumed speaking with "Sam," they were instructed to take the bag with gold outside and wait for the courier to arrive.
SEND US A TIP To protect their assets, the victim was allegedly told to withdraw their savings, convert the money into gold bars and wait for an "officer" to collect them at home.
Additional details
- CLICK HERE FOR MORE FROM THE FOX TRUE CRIME HUB When the victim called the number, a man answered and said the call was being transferred to the Federal Trade Commission's fraud department.
- Following those instructions, the victim bought gold bars, photographed them and bagged them for pickup.
- Scammers then allegedly told the victim someone had tried to drain their savings account through a wire transfer, but it was blocked.
- HERE’S THE ONE THING YOU MUST NEVER DO Sunny, a Canadian citizen, claimed to authorities that he was contacted on Instagram by a group promoting a delivery person job in the U.S., under the impression he'd be delivering antiques to wealthy people.
- After his arrest, the Canadian man told authorities he didn't know about the scam, saying he'd been instructed to travel to Laramie, pick up a package from someone and hand it off to a second courier.
How this summary was made: extractive summary — built from the sources' own reporting. It is drawn only from the reporting of the sources listed below — read the originals for full detail. How we summarize →
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