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About a dozen Long Island seniors have been scammed out of a combined $3 million by thieves who convinced them to buy gold bars — and lock them up in storage units that doesn’t exist, officials said.
Crooks posing as phony officials are cold calling Baby Boomers and tricking them into draining their savings accounts, and even selling assets, to buy gold bars that they willingly hand over to the scammers, according to Suffolk County law enforcement officials.
The unwitting victims have been purchasing the gold and other valuables, with the thieves then convincing them that they need to protect the bars by storing them in their own personal warehouse, officials said.
The victims then hand the gold over to a “courier” who makes a house-call to pick up the treasure — but then is never seen again, according to officials.
“These scammers will tell the victim that their money is at an immediate risk — they will keep these victims on the phone for hours — convincing them to withdraw or liquidate their savings, and of course, buy gold or other precious metals or gems in order to protect those assets,” Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney said Monday.
“A courier then [arrives at the victim’s home and] takes the gold to ‘a vault to protect it,’ but of course, they’re just simply stealing the money,” Tierney added, calling the scammers “professionals” who are master manipulators.
In the last year, officials detailed, there have been roughly a dozen thefts using this scheme, resulting in about $3 million stolen.
“100% of the time, if somebody asks you to liquidate your assets and buy gold, it’s always a scam, every single time, it’s a scam,” police Commissioner Kevin Catalina told reporters.
“These scams exist, and they’re horrible, horrible people — they will stop at nothing to steal their money,” Catalina said.
Suffolk County lawmakers are already pushing new legislation to try to curb similar scams, including mandatory warning signs inside gold dealers’ stores and fresh protections for potential victims.
Under the newly proposed bill, gold and metal buyers who are 60-years-old and plus would have to answer a set of questions at the point of purchase, designed to flag whether they’re being scammed before they walk out the door.
The law would also mandate that dealers would have to hold funds from any precious metals purchase over $50,000 for 48 hours — giving buyers, dealers or cops a window to catch a scam before it’s too late.
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