AMERICA IS Under Siege

[crazy horse 0]

Elder fraud: Veteran lost $1.5M in gold bar scheme, detective says as chief issues warning

by: Shannon Behnken

https://www.wfla.com/8-on-your-side/better-call-behnken/elder-fraud-veteran-lost-1-5m-in-gold-bar-scheme-detective-says-as-chief-issues-warning/




TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — Bradenton Police Chief Melanie Bevan said her community is under siege by financial crooks and she’s tired of it.

The schemes are targeting the elderly population, and Bevan said she’s created a special team dedicated to investigating this type of fraud and educating the public. The Bradenton Police Department reported losses of more than $2 million in the past year.

“There are just heartbreaking story after heartbreaking story when you hear from these folks and it’s just a variety of crimes but it’s always the same,” Bevan said. “They just fall victim for a variety of reasons they feel the need to hand over their money and so often it’s just hard to get it back.”

“We’re tired of it,” she said. “We may not be mighty but we are going to fight hard. We are going to pour as many resources as we can toward this.”

The FBI reported that during that same time period, older Americans were tricked out of $3.4 billion in the past year.

Detective Jim Curulla, who leads that team, told me an elderly veteran lost $1.5 million, after crooks convinced him to buy and fork over gold bars.

The crooks came to his house, posing as federal agents and said they had warrant for his arrest.
Then their “supervisor” started calling.

“She proceeded to call this victim once to twice a day for almost a month, getting his trust and eventually she said he was going to help them solve social security fraud,” Curulla said. “She needed some money to use and they were going to transfer some of his money and use that as the bait.”

Curulla said he recently arrested the man who picked up the gold bars, but there’s only a slim chance of recovering the man’s money.

The big takeaway is that crooks are calling the victims, often pretending to be law enforcement and threatening arrest for financial crimes.

Then they offer a deal—avoid trouble by helping the government with your money or they may say you’re paying a fine or even protecting your money from crooks.

If you get a call like this, hang up and call local law enforcement yourself to verify who you are talking to.