Suffolk detectives stop man from buying $466K in gold bars for internet scammer
Officials say 69-year-old man was moments away from spending nearly half a million dollars from his retirement fund on gold bars as part of an internet scam before police stepped in and stopped the transaction.
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Suffolk County detectives foiled internet scammers trying to get gold bars from a Hauppauge senior on Wednesday.
The 69-year-old man was moments away from spending nearly half a million dollars from his retirement fund on gold bars as part of an internet scam before police stepped in and stopped the transaction.
Police say he received a pop-up message on his computer and called the phone number provided, believing he was speaking with federal agents.
The scammers allegedly convinced him that his financial accounts were vulnerable and that he needed to buy gold bars and send them to them to secure his accounts.
Investigators say the man withdrew $466,000 from his IRA retirement account to make the purchase.
That's when a fraud investigator at the man's bank noticed the unusually large withdrawal and that the money was being sent to a gold dealer and alerted the Suffolk County Police Department Financial Crimes Unit detectives.
Detectives went to a coin store in Centereach, where they intercepted the man trying to buy about $466,000 worth of gold bars.
Anyone who thinks they may have been a victim of a scam is urged to call the Financial Crimes Unit at 631-852-6821.
