How a fake package from KY helped police catch a scammer stealing hundreds of thousands of gold

A fake package sent from Kentucky played a key role in helping authorities arrest a man who was part of a scam that stole hundreds of thousands of dollars in gold bars from seniors.

One of the victims, a woman living at a retirement community in Silver Spring, Maryland, called Leisure World, purchased nearly $800,000 worth of gold bars in two separate transactions and then handed each of the gold shipments to the scammers in a parking lot. Lot, believing she was handing over her savings to federal agents for safekeeping, according to court records and Maryland officials.

Federal authorities say the scam is being carried out across the US

Wenhui Sun, a courier who picked up one of the woman’s shipments of gold bars, pleaded guilty Friday to multiple thefts.

Kentucky officials declined to share details about their role, but court records explain how the case developed.

The woman in Maryland told police she received a call in late February from a man claiming to be from the Federal Trade Commission’s Office of Inspector General. He told her “she was a victim of identity theft, which led to a federal drug and money laundering investigation.”

That man put her in touch with a man claiming to be “Officer David Freeman,” who said he would help her get a new Social Security number and place her in a witness protection program if she cooperated with their “investigation.”

“To ensure her cooperation and safeguard her assets,” he told the woman to purchase gold bars from JM Bullion, a legitimate precious metals retailer. She was then told to turn the gold over to “FBI agents,” who would place it with the Treasury Department.

The woman did as she was told and used $331,817 from her Capital One account to buy five gold bars weighing one kilogram each on February 21.

A representative of the Montgomery County State’s Attorney’s Office in Maryland said the bars were shipped from a location in Kentucky.

The scammer maintained “constant contact” with the victim, who sent him screenshots with updates on the delivery status of the gold from JM Bullion and UPS, court documents show.

The package arrived on March 5, court records show, and the woman dropped it off with a courier claiming to be from the FBI in the parking lot of a Silver Spring Walgreens.

The process was repeated the next day, when the woman ordered another $457,410 worth of gold bars, which she handed over to the scammers on March 8.

After the second episode, she discovered the scam — court records don’t show how — and contacted police.

The police mislead scammers

Police have obtained video from Leisure World, the gated retirement community in a Washington, DC suburb. It showed the face of the courier who made the second pickup, as well as the license plate of the rental car he drove that day.

The investigation, they said, led them to Sun.

The tables began to turn, as financial crimes investigators helped the victim keep in touch with the scammers.

To lure them back with the promise of more gold, the detectives gave the woman fake documents to share with the scammers suggesting she had purchased another shipment.

“It worked and the scammers indicated they would return to pick up the new shipment of gold bars worth $376,113.24,” the court document said.

Because the gold came from Kentucky the first time, a Lexington police detective sent a fake envelope to simulate the route the scammers expected the package to take, a representative of the Montgomery County State’s Attorney’s Office said in an e-mail. -mail.

Montgomery County police also confirmed that the Lexington Police Department’s Financial Crimes Unit assisted with the case.

In response to a request for information, Lexington police issued a statement deferring to Maryland law enforcement, saying they “played a minor role when asked to assist in the Maryland State Police investigation.”

On March 18, after the woman told the scammers she had received the package containing five gold bars, Sun returned to Leisure World to collect it, according to police.

A detective posing as the victim placed a box — which contained only “wrapping paper and a message from the police operation to intercept the third pickup” — in the back seat of the vehicle, according to court documents.

Sun was stopped and arrested after leaving the parking lot with the fake package.

He told police he did not know what was in the package he picked up from the woman on March 8. He said a friend in China asked him to drive to New York from New York to pick up the package, and he did it for free. as stated in the official report.

Sun, 34, of Lake Arbor, California, pleaded guilty Friday to charges of theft over $100,000, theft over $100,000, attempted theft over $100,000 and conspiracy to commit theft over $100,000.

He faces a maximum sentence of 80 years in prison, according to a news release from the Montgomery County, Maryland, district attorney’s office. Sentencing is scheduled for December 9.

“We will seek a sentence that reflects the severity of the impact on this victim,” State’s Attorney John McCarthy said in the news release.

Five people, including Sun, have been arrested in Montgomery County as part of the investigation. Sun’s case marks the first conviction.

‘You can’t get that gold back

Officials say gold bar scams targeting the elderly are widespread.

“People are losing their savings, their homes, their trusts and their safety,” William DelBagno, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Baltimore field office, said at a news conference in August. “Unfortunately, it happens in the United States.”

Scammers posing as government agents tell their victims that their bank account information has been compromised, and to protect their money they must convert it into gold and then give it to the alleged government agent for safekeeping.

Some cases start with a phone call to the victim, while others start when the victim clicks a pop-up advertisement on their computer, asking them to install software or contact a technical support person by phone.

“It’s international,” McCarthy said at the meeting press conference in August. “This is organized crime at the highest level.”

Four victims lost $2.9 million in the scam exposed in Silver Spring, McCarthy said at the news conference.

“We believe the total number of victims in our province alone is now close to 20, with millions more lost,” he said.

None of their money had been recovered.

“Once you fall victim to one of these scams, your chances of getting your money back are slim to none,” McCarthy said.

If they were to withdraw the money to purchase the gold from a taxable account, McCarthy said victims could also receive a tax bill.

“Some may lose their homes,” he said.

McCarthy said people should never click on pop-up ads on their computers.

And he said, “Don’t answer the phone if you don’t recognize the number.”

Det. Sean Petty, of the Montgomery County Police Department’s Financial Crimes Unit, who investigated the case, noted that legitimate government agencies will not contact you with pop-up ads or cold calls telling you to convert assets into gold.

“When you get these calls, we want you to think carefully about what you’re going to do,” Petty said. “When you finally get that phone call and there’s someone on the other end of the line saying, ‘Hey, we want you to convert your assets into gold bars because we’re going to have someone pick them up for you and put them away ‘ into custody because we’re the federal government or the state government or a local entity, it’s a scam. One hundred percent it’s a scam.

“You’re not getting that gold back,” he said.

In the 15 months leading up to August, the FBI through its Internet Crime Complaint Center received more than 250 complaints about scams related to couriers collecting gold bars, DelBagno said. These reports represented a loss of almost $84 million.

“The scammers are very convincing,” he said. “They convince you that the only way to protect your money is to convert it to gold. …Government agencies will never ask you to collect gold or cash.”

He said people who receive calls suggest they should “resist the pressure to act quickly” and “talk it over” with a friend or family member.

People who believe they have fallen victim to the scam were asked to come forward and report the fraud to their local law enforcement agency and to police. The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center.