There’s been an uptick in experiences of aged Bay Staters being scammed into “devastating financial losses” by fraudsters who ship couriers to gather money or gold bars from victims who assume they’re both serving to a member of the family or settling a shock debt with the federal government, the FBI’s Boston Division stated.
Between 2023 and Could 2025, the native department of the FBI documented 103 situations of a courier getting used to select up money or gold bars as a part of a fraud scheme, with monetary losses totaling greater than $26 million. Many of the victims, 59 in whole, lived in Massachusetts and collectively misplaced $18.6 million, the FBI stated. Almost all (98%) of the losses had been reported by folks older than 60 years, officers stated.
The FBI stated that most of the schemes take the type of “grandparent,” “government impersonation,” or “tech support” scams. In all instances, the perpetrator leads the sufferer to assume they’re speaking to both a member of the family in misery or somebody threatening authorities or authorized motion.
The company stated it’s additionally elevating consciousness of the scams with native monetary establishments “to prevent victims from purchasing large amounts of gold or withdrawing cash for these schemes.”
The feds say the federal government won’t ever ask folks to buy gold or treasured metals, and that individuals ought to restrict the quantity of data they publish on-line.
Anybody who thinks they’re a sufferer of those schemes ought to report fraud and tried fraud to the FBI’s Web Crime Criticism Heart at ic3.gov as rapidly as attainable, officers stated. Victims 60 or older who want help can contact their native FBI discipline workplace or the DOJ Elder Justice hotline at 1-833-FRAUD-11 (or 833-372-8311).
