Beware of fraudsters impersonating government officials to steal gold

A recent trend in scams has seen fraudsters stealing significant sums of money by deceiving victims into handing over gold bars. Some media reports have found individuals who lost nearly their entire life’s savings to these criminals. The FBI also issued an alert on this trend, stating that victims reported losing $55 million to this type of crime in a 7-month period last year.

Typically, these scams involve the impersonation of government officials or agencies to convince the victims to provide the valuables. The criminals may pretend to be with the FBI, U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Treasury, Federal Trade Commission, or other similar authorities. They may also pose as tech support or bank workers to better deceive their target; or any combination of these tactics. After establishing contact, they often claim that the victim’s bank account has been compromised and they should convert their deposits into cash, gold, or other precious metals for better protection.

After successfully convincing the victim to make a withdrawal and/or conversion to gold, the fraudsters send a courier to retrieve the gold, often under the false promise of better protection for the target’s deposits. The criminals or their associates have both gone to victims’ houses and agreed to meet in public to pick up the valuables. Ultimately, the victim never sees their funds returned by the criminals.

Sometimes, the fraudsters are able to deceive their victim into making multiple withdrawals. One Maryland resident lost $1.1 million after he purchased gold bars for scammers on 10 separate occasions over a three-month period.

If someone claims that your bank deposits are in danger, keep the following in mind:

• Governmental agencies will never instruct you to purchase gold or other precious metals to “protect your funds.” The U.S. government already insures participating institutions on qualifying deposits under $250,000.
• Beware of unsolicited pop-ups on your computer, links sent via text messages, or email links and attachments. Do not click on these links, respond to the telephone numbers (via call or text), or reply to the emails.
• Do not allow unknown individuals (even someone claiming to be with “tech support”) to access your computer remotely.
• Do not meet with strangers to deliver gold, cash, or other valuables.
• Contact your bank independently through the number on a billing statement or their verified website. Often, they can clarify if there is actually a threat to your funds.
• Verify that requests are legitimate before making major withdrawals and other similar decisions. An internet search for the impersonated agency name or your bank’s name plus a few keywords from the request should produce official announcements and/or media coverage. For example, searching “FTC gold bars” results in several warnings from the agency and news outlets about this scam.