Home Precious Metals

More than $1 million in gold stolen from central Pa. couple in Social Security scam

Comments

  • jmski52jmski52 Posts: 23,928 ✭✭✭✭✭

    The reporting is very sketchy.

    Q: Are You Printing Money? Bernanke: Not Literally

    I knew it would happen.
  • DrewUDrewU Posts: 207 ✭✭✭✭

    The scam hasn’t really been well reported by the media but it has really accelerated the last couple years. Here’s a good summary from ChatGPT:

    ⚠️ Rising Gold Bar & Coin Courier Scam (U.S.)

    There’s a rapidly growing fraud targeting Americans—especially seniors—involving gold bars or coins, overseas call centers (often India-based), and U.S.-based couriers.

    How it works:
    1. Victim gets a fake tech alert, bank warning, or government call (FBI/DOJ/IRS impersonation).
    2. Scammer claims accounts are compromised or under investigation.
    3. Victim is told to “protect” money by converting it to gold bars or coins.
    4. A courier shows up in person to collect the gold (often with fake badge, code word, or paperwork).
    5. Gold disappears; money is unrecoverable.

    Why gold?
    • Physical, trusted, and hard to trace
    • Avoids bank wires and chargebacks
    • Makes the scam feel “real” due to in-person pickup

    Who’s behind it:
    • Call-center coordination overseas (many cases trace back to India)
    • Domestic couriers in the U.S. (often paid per pickup, sometimes knowingly, sometimes not)
    • Couriers are getting arrested; organizers are harder to reach offshore

    Scale of the problem:
    • FBI reports hundreds of courier pickups
    • Hundreds of millions of dollars in losses nationwide
    • Victims are overwhelmingly age 60+

    Major red flags:
    • Anyone telling you to buy gold to “secure” funds
    • Claims of secrecy or urgency
    • Government agencies asking for gold, cash, or couriers
    • In-person pickups arranged by phone/email

  • MsMorrisineMsMorrisine Posts: 38,671 ✭✭✭✭✭

    ai makes mistakes

    100% trust is 100% wrong

  • GoldFinger1969GoldFinger1969 Posts: 3,380 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Are people this gullible ? :o

  • MsMorrisineMsMorrisine Posts: 38,671 ✭✭✭✭✭

    obviously

  • DrewUDrewU Posts: 207 ✭✭✭✭

    I was recently on a federal jury for a case involving a courier for said scam and I promise the AI summary is more on point than almost everything published to date. Scam is massive and very well organized.

  • 1Mike11Mike1 Posts: 4,439 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Amazing if you move 10k around uncle wants to know about it but somehow these scammers move millions out of the country with no problem.

    "May the silver waves that bear you heavenward be filled with love’s whisperings"

    "A dog breaks your heart only one time and that is when they pass on". Unknown
  • RedneckHBRedneckHB Posts: 20,132 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @GoldFinger1969 said:
    Are people this gullible ? :o

    Lots of directions to go with that question. Lol

    Excuses are tools of the ignorant

    Knowledge is the enemy of fear

  • johnny9434johnny9434 Posts: 31,448 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I got an email wanting to buy my Nissan altima. Neverending bulls**t. Haven't owned a car in 43 yrs 👎

  • ADGADG Posts: 471 ✭✭✭
    edited December 18, 2025 1:08AM

    Gullible? You want gullible?

    https://www.thecut.com/article/amazon-scam-call-ftc-arrest-warrants.html

    Make sure you read the comments section.

    The pardon is for tyrants. They like to declare pardons on holidays, such as the birthday of the dictator, or Christ, or the Revolution. Dictators should be encouraged to keep it up. And we should be encouraged to remember that the promiscuous dispensation of clemency is not a sign of political liberality. It is instead one of those valuable, identifying marks of tyranny.
    Charles Krauthammer

Sign In or Register to comment.