A 74-year-old man from Bethesda, Maryland, fell victim to a scam that cost him over $1 million, which he converted into gold bars and unwittingly handed over to fraudsters. The alleged perpetrator, 52-year-old Vipul J. Thakkar from Owings Mills, was arrested after picking up the final payment of gold bars from the victim’s residence.
The scam began in March when the Bethesda man received an email about a suspicious deposit in his bank account, prompting him to convert his assets into gold for protection. Over ten transactions from March to June led him to purchase more than $1.1 million in gold bars, all picked up by Thakkar’s associates.
It wasn’t until the man made a final purchase of over $240,000 in gold that he became aware of a similar scam involving an 82-year-old woman who lost $900,000. Alarmed, he contacted the Montgomery County Police Department’s Financial Crimes Section.
On Wednesday, a detective posing as the victim arranged for Thakkar to pick up the gold at the man’s home. Thakkar was arrested shortly after receiving the package.
Authorities are seeing an uptick in scams of this nature, particularly targeting older individuals. Montgomery County State’s Attorney John McCarthy noted that at least 17 victims have collectively lost millions to similar schemes in the area.