Just one little computer click led to a senior in Montgomery County, Maryland, losing almost $1 million.
The victim, an 82-year-old retiree, drained her life savings and converted $900,00 into gold bars after being fooled by people posing as federal agents, the Montgomery County state’s attorney told News4.
The scammers pounced after the victim clicked on a pop-up ad.
“When she clicked on the pop-up ad, they let her know that she had been compromised and that Russian spyware was being used against her and that if she did not cooperate with them and buy a product from them that cost $46,000, they could basically take everything,” John McCarthy said.
The victim converted her funds into gold bars at the direction of scammers and handed them over to a courier.
She was about to hand over more gold bars, worth more than $2 million, but she learned she was dealing with criminals, not federal agents who were trying to help her.
Suspect Zhenyong Weng, 19, of Brooklyn, New York, was arrested after he showed up in Silver Spring to collect what scammers believed was a box full of gold, McCarthy said. The box actually was handed off by a Montgomery County detective posing as the victim.
The suspect had an initial court appearance and was held without bond.
Gold bar scammers have repeatedly targeted Montgomery County seniors. News4 reported in March that one victim lost $800,000. In May, another victim lost about $230,000.
Real government officials will never ask you to turn your hard-earned cash into gold, McCarthy reminded residents.
“The federal government and federal agents are not gonna call you, tell you that your life savings is in jeopardy and coach you into buying gold bars and then asking you to deliver them to them,” he said.
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