MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. — During a press conference at the Montgomery County Circuit Courthouse on Monday, police announced progress in tracking down the alleged perpetrators in an infamous gold bar scam.
Investigators say the scam has links to both China and call centers in India.
Last week, a second suspect in the gold bar scam was arrested at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport. Montgomery County Police say he was attempting to fly to Dublin, Ireland.
“This is organized crime at the highest level,” says Montgomery County State’s Attorney John McCarthy. “Most of the individuals that we prosecute are usually local. These people are international and they’re traveling all over the country.”
So far, seven victims have been identified who’ve collectively lost more than $6.3 million worth of gold bars, but investigators say that’s not the only way scammers are laundering money.
“To date, we’ve made five arrests connected to these crimes,” says Detective Sean Petty of the Department’s Financial Crimes division. “We’re dealing with not just gold bars, but also cash pickups and cryptocurrency losses. The exact amount lost due to cash pickups and cryptocurrencies is hard to quantify, but we know it’s well over a million dollars across these victims.”
One of the victim’s nieces, Laura, also spoke at the press conference, claiming her aunt was caught up in the scam. She said that although her aunt has made peace with what happened, she’s started to act differently because of it.
“She’s a lot more cautious,” Laura said. “She’s talking to us about things, and she’s not answering messages and things like that, she tells us about it.”
While many of the victims are seniors, Detective Petty also warns that anyone could be targeted.
“If you think you could not fall victim to this because you have a degree… you’re wrong,” he said. “You can be a victim, no matter your education level. The scammers have preyed on people’s sensibilities and believing that they are talking to a federal agent.”
Now police are warning people to not engage with anyone asking them to convert money, claiming to be from the government, and not to engage with phishing attempts like answering calls from unknown numbers or clicking on pop-ups.
“It’s a scam. 100%, it’s a scam,” Petty said. “You are not going to get that gold back, there is nothing that we’re going to be able to do for you in that respect of getting that money back from those gold bars.”