A New York man was charged for allegedly being involved in the theft of more than $500,000 worth of gold bars from an elderly resident in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, the Ephrata Police Department said.
Zhong Ren, 44, of Brooklyn, New York, was charged on July 10 with multiple offenses, including theft by unlawful taking, criminal conspiracy of theft by deception, and impersonating a public servant.
He was arrested after an elderly resident of Ephrata, Pennsylvania, filed a police report in April about the theft of gold bars valued at $555,892, according to the police department.
Police suspected that Ren was one of the individuals who deceived the victim into using her lifetime investment savings to buy physical gold bars to protect her money from a purported theft threat, which was a fabrication by the scammers.
The scammers allegedly gained access to the victim’s computer in March and told her that someone was trying to withdraw funds from her investment accounts, the police department stated.
The victim was instructed to convert her lifetime investment money into physical gold bars and hand them over to federal employees, who would then store the gold bars in the Federal Reserve vault in Philadelphia while a supposed fraud investigation was underway.
In April, individuals posing as federal employees came to the victim’s house in Ephrata on two separate occasions to collect the gold bars, the police department said.
Police said that law enforcement authorities believe that Ren is a member of an “international criminal organization” that orchestrates such fraudulent schemes.
Ren was arraigned, and his bail was set at $550,000. He is currently being held at Lancaster County Prison. It is unclear whether Ren has been assigned legal representation at the time of writing.
The El Cerrito Police Department in California has previously issued warnings to the public about gold bar scams, saying the schemes have become increasingly prevalent nationwide.
In a June 12 Facebook post, the police department urged the public to be wary of contacts from unknown numbers or individuals claiming to represent legitimate organizations.
It stated that gold bar schemes often involve scammers impersonating government officials or tech support representatives. The perpetrators will try to convince the victims to convert their money into gold bars by claiming that their financial accounts have been compromised or are vulnerable to hacking.
“Scammers often create a sense of urgency and fear to pressure victims into acting quickly,” it stated. “No legitimate organization will ask you to convert your savings into gold and hand them over to a courier.”
The public is advised not to provide any information to the caller, to verify the legitimacy of the contact by directly reaching out to the organization the caller claims to represent, and to report the scam to the police.
