The FBI is warning the Greater Rochester area about scammers tricking unsuspecting victims into draining their savings to buy gold.
Scammers are convincing people to buy gold bars and other precious metals in order to scam them out of money, according to the FBI . These gold bars are all apart of a new scheme targeting elderly people.
Rochester, N.Y. — The FBI is warning the Greater Rochester area about scammers tricking unsuspecting victims into draining their savings to buy gold. People who are 60 or older were ripped off by scams to the tune of $3.4 billion last year, according to the FBI. That's an increase of nearly 11 percent from the year before. FBI Special Agent Ryan Braley says the government and legitimate businesses will never request you to purchase gold or other precious metals. "With these gold bar scams, we are seeing people just lose massive amounts of money — half million dollars, three-quarters-of-a-million dollars, over a million dollars — all in one pop," Braley said. "One's we’ve dealt with locally more often, they’ll have the victims themselves, they’ll direct them to liquidate their bank account, either order the gold bars online or go to a gold shop in the area, obtain the gold, and a courier will come to their home and pick it up." These video's from the FBI's website, show how the scammers attempt to play on their victim's sympathy. "The lady on the phone was saying that she was my granddaughter, and she needs help," one victim said. "She hasn't got the money, and they’re going to take her to jail." "We went to the bank, got the money. Then the girl came over, picked it up, and then she took off," said another victim."There’s few things more heartbreaking than sitting down at a kitchen table with an old person when they come to the realization that everything they’ve worked their entire life for is gone and it's never coming back," Braley said.
Scam Gold Bars Savings Victims Rochester Elder Fraud Liquidate
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