Suffolk Detectives Stop $140K Gold Bar Scam Targeting Elderly Woman

An elderly western Suffolk County woman was on the verge of converting approximately $140,000 of her savings into gold for scammers when two detectives arrived at her home and discovered that the fraudsters were secretly monitoring their conversation through her compromised computer, officials said Monday.

Detectives Thomas Perillo and Anthony DeLuca of the Suffolk County Police Department's Financial Crimes Unit stopped the woman from completing the purchase, canceled two checks and arranged for the funds to be returned to her bank account before a courier could arrive to collect the gold, Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney said.

The scheme began when a pop-up appeared on the woman's computer. She responded to someone posing as a technology support agent, who told her that her computer had been infected with a virus, her bank accounts had been compromised and she needed to convert her savings into gold to protect them. Scammers instructed her to purchase a one-kilogram gold bar and surrender it to a courier who would supposedly transfer it to a secure location.

A bank investigator grew suspicious after learning the woman was having checks drawn to purchase precious metals and contacted police. Perillo and DeLuca went to the woman's home while the scheme was still active. Once there, Perillo realized the fraudsters could hear the conversation through the open computer connection and unplugged the device, severing the link. DeLuca then contacted the bank and had two checks made out to a gold company canceled.

"These scammers are masters at psychological manipulation, and what they will do is they'll have these people convinced that we're the scammers, not them who are on the other side of the phone," said Detective Sergeant Tom Gabriel, the unit supervisor.

Detectives also helped the woman set up two-factor authentication, flagged her accounts for suspicious activity and arranged for her computer to be examined for malware. The scammers had planned to send a courier to her home the following evening to retrieve the gold.

Perillo, DeLuca and Gabriel were honored Monday in Hauppauge. Suffolk County Police Commissioner Kevin Catalina warned that any instruction directing residents to liquidate assets and buy gold is a scam. County legislators proposed legislation that would require warning signs at precious metals dealers and impose a 48-hour hold on certain purchases.

No arrest has been made and the investigation is pending.