Man Tied to Gold Bar Scam Suffered from Gambling Addiction

A man, suspected of being involved in a massive scam that operated across multiple states is facing legal trouble in Maryland. The criminal case involves a 52-year-old man from Owings Mills identified with the initials, V.T.

Per prosecutors, he is among a group of couriers that participated in the multi-state scheme that defrauded seniors out of an estimated $7 million worth of assets, including cash, gold and even cryptocurrencies.

The man, who is suspected of being one of the couriers who picked up the goods from defrauded elderly individuals, was described as a person who suffered from a gambling addiction, according to prosecutors, quoted by the Washington Post.

According to law enforcement, the 52-year-old admitted to earning 1% of the sums of cash he picked up, or 2% of the value of the gold bars he collected from elderly residents. An investigation identified that the victims were between the age of 61 and 94.

What’s known so far is that elderly people in Maryland and other US states have fallen victim to the fraudulent activity. The 52-year-old man is suspected of doing runs to collect assets from defrauded individuals not only in Maryland but in New Jersey, Delaware, Pennsylvania and Virginia, court filings claim.

A Government Imposter Scam That Targeted Elderly People

An investigation helped arrest the man suspected of being involved in the fraudulent activity. According to law enforcement, the 52-year-old was part of a large-scale government imposter scam that involved individuals presenting themselves as government officials.

The victims are often lured through different cyberattacks, including phishing, or in some cases via phone. Often times the person who talked to the victims presented himself as a government official and notified them that certain bank assets belonging to them are not safe.

After that, the victim is told to move the money in the form of other assets. While sometimes, the elderly are encouraged to buy gold bars, in other cases, they are asked to purchase cryptocurrency, while the fraudsters explain every step of the process.

Regardless if gold, crypto assets or in some cases cash, the victims are then told to give those assets to a person who is a government representative, who will keep them safe. Not unexpectedly, the assets are then gone, leaving the victims in some cases with no savings to their name at all.

Kush Arora, the attorney representing the 52-year-old man, acknowledged the sophistication and scale of the fraudulent operation. However, he said: “The focus should be on the bigger fish.” Arora claimed that the leaders of the fraudulent ring may be from New York.

While he spoke about the victims who are defrauded, he added that the couriers, the people who picked up the gold or cash, also get “wrapped” into the operation the same way as the elderly targets.