A 78-year-old Washington woman says she lost $3 million after callers persuaded her to buy gold and hand it to strangers. She believed she was helping investigators protect her savings from criminals.
The Shoreline resident, identified publicly as Shane, described the experience at a November 5 news conference with law enforcement officials. The deception continued for about five months, according to Seattle Times reporting.
The King County Sheriff’s Office is investigating her case, KIRO 7 reported. At the briefing, officials said gold-bar schemes accounted for $4.6 million in reported losses across the county.
Shane estimates that she liquidated 95% of her assets while following the callers’ instructions, she told KIRO Newsradio. She is sharing her experience in hopes of preventing others from losing their savings.
A Fake Computer Warning Led to Months of Financial Manipulation
Shane said the scam began in April while she was deleting emails. Flashing warnings claimed her computer had been hacked and displayed numbers supposedly belonging to Chase and Apple fraud departments.
She called and began following instructions from people claiming they could help. They persuaded her that withdrawing her money would help catch the criminals supposedly threatening her accounts.
The callers first tried unsuccessfully to get her to buy Bitcoin, according to the Seattle Times. They then directed her to purchase Lowe’s gift cards and provide the card numbers before telling her to liquidate her assets and buy gold.
Couriers Carried Passwords on Dollar Bills
Shane described two gold handoffs to KIRO 7: one in a church parking lot and another behind a Verizon store. At each collection, the courier carried a dollar bill bearing a password that was read to someone she was speaking with by phone.
After the deliveries, she received receipts purporting to come from the Federal Reserve. The documents supposedly showed that her gold was being held in an account and earning money.
Shane said banks and gold dealers questioned whether she was being scammed and tried to dissuade her, the Seattle Times reported. By then, she trusted the men directing her and believed they were helping.
A Friend Told Her to Call the Police
The callers insisted on secrecy throughout the scheme. Shane told KIRO Newsradio that she feared consequences for someone she loved if she spoke about it, although the scammers had made no explicit threat.
About six weeks before her November interview, a man she spoke with regularly told her she could stop liquidating assets. When she asked whether she could finally tell someone about the supposed investigation, he agreed.
Shane immediately called a close friend, who urged her to contact police. That conversation made her realize that the people she had trusted were taking her money.
Government Agents Do Not Collect Gold to Protect Your Savings
The Federal Trade Commission warns that instructions to buy gold and surrender it for safekeeping are a scam. It advises people to stop communicating with the caller, tell someone they trust and report the encounter at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.
The FBI also advises people not to call numbers displayed in unsolicited computer warnings or meet strangers to deliver cash or precious metals. Anyone who has already transferred valuables should report the incident promptly and preserve messages, telephone numbers, transaction details and information about the gold dealer and collection.