A fake package sent from Kentucky played a key role in helping authorities capture a man who was part of a scam to steal gold bars worth hundreds of thousands of dollars from elderly people .

One of the victims, a woman who lived in a Silver Spring, Md., retirement community called Leisure World, purchased nearly $800,000 worth of gold bars in two separate transactions, then surrendered each gold shipments to scammers in a parking lot. many, believing she was giving her savings to federal agents to keep them safe, according to court records and Maryland officials.

Federal authorities say the scam is being perpetrated across the United States.

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

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

The Maryland woman 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 had been the victim of identity theft, which led to a federal investigation into drug and money laundering charges.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The police deceive the crooks

Police obtained video from Leisure World, a gated retirement community in a suburb of Washington, DC. It showed the face of the courier who had delivered the second van, as well as the license plate of the rental truck he was driving that day.

The investigation, they said, had led them to Sun.

The roles began to reverse, as financial crimes detectives helped the victim stay in contact with the scammers.

To lure them back with the promise of more gold, 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 for the new shipment of gold bars worth $376,113.24,” the court document states.

Because the gold first came from Kentucky, a detective with the Lexington Police Department sent a fake envelope to simulate the route the scammers expected the package to take, a representative from the state’s office said. Montgomery County State’s Attorney in an email.

The Montgomery County Police Department also confirmed that the Lexington Police Department’s Financial Crimes Unit assisted in this case.

In response to a request for information, the Lexington Police Department released a statement deferring to Maryland police, saying they “played a small role when asked to assist in the investigation by the Maryland State Police.”

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

A detective posing as the victim placed a box — which contained only “wrapping paper and a notice of a police operation to intercept the third pickup” — in the backseat of the vehicle, documents state. judicial.

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 collected from the woman on March 8. He said a friend in China asked him to drive from New York to pick up the package, and he did it for free. the court filing states.

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

He faces up to 80 years in prison, according to a news release from the Montgomery County, Maryland, state’s attorney. 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 release.

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

‘You’re not going to get this gold back’

Officials say the gold bullion scam, which targets the elderly, is widespread.

“People are losing their savings, their homes, their trusts, their security,” William DelBagno, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Baltimore field office, said at a news conference in August. “Unfortunately, this is happening all over the United States.”

Fraudsters posing as government agents tell their victims that their bank account information has been compromised and that, to protect their money, they must convert it to gold and then give it to the pretended government agent to he keeps it.

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

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

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

“We believe that the total number of casualties in our country alone is now around 20, and that millions more have been lost,” he said.

None of their money was recovered.

“Once you fall victim to one of these scams, the chances of getting your money back are not high,” McCarthy said.

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

“Some are at risk of losing their homes,” he said.

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

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 Section, who investigated the case, noted that legitimate government agencies would not contact you via a pop-up advertisement or unsolicited phone call asking you to convert your assets into gold.

“If you’re getting these phone calls, we want you to think twice about what you’re going to do,” Petty said. “If you end up getting that phone call and there’s someone on the other end saying, ‘Hey, we want you to convert your assets to gold bullion because we’re going to ask someone to come get them for you and put them in place.” in a safe place because we are the federal government, state government or a local entity, this is a scam. One hundred percent this is a scam.

“You’re not going to get that gold back,” he said.

In the 15 months leading up to August, the FBI received more than 250 complaints through its Internet Crime Complaint Center 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 into gold. …Government agencies will never ask you to collect gold or cash.

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

People who believe they have been scammed have been urged to come forward and report the fraud to local law enforcement and the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center.