Gold Scammers Stole $265K From Woman, 77

JULY 16--Last month, a 77-year-old woman was using her home computer when the device froze and a message appeared on screen directing her to call a phone number for assistance.

While many younger or more computer savvy targets might recognize this pop-up as part of a tech support scam, the Florida resident was unaware that a malicious app or malware on her computer may have caused the machine to temporarily lock up.

So the woman--who TSG will not name, but instead refer to as “Betty Jones,” reached for her phone. What followed was a week-long fraud that saw the septuagenarian defrauded out of $265,000 in cash and gold bullion.

This account is based on court and law enforcement records.

Jones’s call was answered by a man who claimed to be a “hacker investigator” with Apple. He had troubling news: Jones’s IP address had been linked to a variety of criminal activity (gambling, pornography, firearms trafficking, the hiring of hitmen) that was being investigated by the “Treasury Department.”

Jones would be arrested as an accomplice if she did not cooperate, the man warned.

An email was then sent to Jones by “Eric Castaneda,” who claimed to be a Federal Trade Commission agent. “Castaneda” attached a letter on FBI letterhead which now purported to identify the elderly woman as a “victim of hacking, money laundering, and identity theft.”

To clear her name, Jones was told she could “secure her funds with the FTC and US Treasury Department” by sending cash to a government “safety locker.” But she would have to follow a strict non-disclosure agreement.

Jones proceeded to withdraw $23,000 from her bank account and mailed the money to a supposed lawyer in San Jose, California. The address she was directed to use is a townhouse that has been unoccupied and listed for rent on Zillow, according to a TSG interview with the condo’s owner.

Fraud operations will often use vacant residences as dropoff points and will have a courier waiting in the area to scoop up a package after it is left outside the home. 

Though Jones already paid “Castaneda” thousands of dollars, the price to exonerate herself would quickly grow to six figures.

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Jones moved to Florida’s Atlantic Coast in 2022, when she purchased a 19-acre farm property for $800,000, according to a sale deed that lists her as a “single woman.” She had previously lived in New York, where she grew blueberries, pumpkins, lavender, herbs, and assorted flowers. Jones’s late father was an esteemed federal judge who presided over many prominent criminal cases.

Jones, of course, would not be the first senior citizen to fall victim to a preposterous scheme designed to leave the vulnerable target fearful, confounded, and not thinking rationally.

After she sent the cash to California, Jones was told to obtain a large amount of gold. So she went online and purchased $242,150 worth of gold bullion from JM Bullion. The retailer then shipped the precious metal--95 one-ounce Valcambi Suisse bars--to Jones’s residence.

After the nearly six pounds of gold arrived, Jones contacted “Castaneda,” who told her to send him photos showing the gold and how it was packaged (the images Jones sent to “Castaneda” accompany this article). He then said that a man would drive to her home to retrieve the gold, which Jones placed in a large grocery bag.  

“Castaneda” stayed on the phone with Jones as a male driving a blue/gray Toyota pulled up. The driver, “Castaneda” said, would use a password so that Jones would know that the stranger should be given the gold.

The password was “cold coffee.”

When the driver said those two words, Jones handed over the gold and the courier drove away. The fraud on Jones apparently was complete.

After picking up the gold haul on June 20, the driver was dispatched later that day to nearby Jensen Beach to secure $200,000 in gold from a 78-year-old man who had already been swindled out of $154,000 worth of kilo-weight gold bars.

What the driver did not know was that the man had--after being initially defrauded--contacted police. So when the driver picked up a bait package from the male victim, cops pounced, arresting Tejaskumar Patel, 21.

Patel was charged with three first-degree felonies in connection with scamming the man. Locked up in the Martin County jail in lieu of $75,000 bond, Patel has waived arraignment and pleaded not guilty to grand theft and fraud charges. He is scheduled for an August 1 court appearance.

An examination of Patel’s WhatsApp conversations with his superior--an Indian man Patel identified only as “Rocky”--turned up directions to pick up gold from the home of Jones, who was described to Patel as a “woman in blue jeans, an orange shirt, black sneakers, who is 77 years old.” “Rocky” also sent Patel “a message that said, ‘password cold coffee.’”

Investigators seized Patel’s rented Toyota Corolla at the time of his arrest, and subsequently secured a search warrant for the sedan. In the rear of the vehicle, cops recovered plastic containers and bags holding the 95 gold bars Jones had handed over. They also found three boarding passes for Patel, who, cops allege, had been sent “all over the country” by “Rocky.”

Patel’s iPhone was also confiscated and its contents have been copied by detectives who said in a search warrant application that the digital evidence could help identify coconspirators and witnesses.

During police questioning, Patel (seen above) acknowledged that, “all the people he picked up gold from were Americans, and that everyone he delivered the gold to, were from India.” While he thought this was “weird,” Patel claimed not to know the gold “was obtained through fraudulent means.”

The criminal troubles of Patel, who said he moved last year with his family from India to Illinois, are soon expected to expand. He is facing additional felony charges in St. Lucie County, where the Jones swindle occurred.

TSG calls to Jones went straight to voicemail and messages left for her went unreturned. Which seems like a positive development. (4 pages)