The woman from Rochester, New York, was able to save more than $400,000 thanks to a single phone call.
After receiving a phone call from a woman who wanted to buy gold worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, Mike DeMarino, the proprietor of Med City Coin & Bullion, became suspicious of the situation.
“She said that she wanted to buy about $400,000 in gold,” DeMarino stated. “She wanted 10 oz. bars of gold, which is a big chunk. I said, ‘that’s kind of not the right way to do it.’”
As soon as DeMarino heard that request, he immediately displayed red flags. When the woman, who asked not to be identified, mentioned that she was acting on the advice of someone who was assisting her with a “Microsoft issue,” DeMarino’s concern quickly turned into alarm.
The authorities arrived at the residence of the woman before any money or gold was exchanged. He immediately called the police and they arrived at the residence.
“If it wasn’t for a team effort, honestly, this young lady probably would have lost half a million dollars,” DeMarino stated.
The scam started when the woman was on Facebook and a pop-up window appeared on her computer. The pop-up told her to call a number that looked like a Microsoft support line and said that the woman’s computer had been disabled because of suspicious activity.
“It said, ‘Temporarily disabled your computer for suspicious activity,'” said the woman.
In order to exert control and instill fear, the scammers started a troubling pattern after the woman dialed the number displayed in the pop-up window. The fictitious tech support agent called her twice a day.
“He had me like a prisoner,” according to the woman. “He had set it up that he would call every morning at 10 a.m. and afternoon at 3 p.m.”
When a second con artist impersonating a banker at her financial institution joined the scheme and informed the woman that her assets were in jeopardy, the scam intensified.
The woman claims that following a series of escalations, she was persuaded to purchase gold in order to safeguard her finances and herself. At one point, she was informed that the Federal Reserve and Social Security Administration would be getting involved in her case.
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They instructed her to buy 408,000 worth of 10-ounce gold bars from Med City Coin & Bullion. DeMarino stepped in at that point.
DeMarino became aware that she was being told precisely how much gold to purchase and was even cautioned not to tell her family as the woman explained the circumstances.
He assumed the woman on the phone was being conned because of the secrecy and the reference to Microsoft. Just in time, DeMarino and the local police force were able to step in.
“The tears started rolling,” according to the woman. “I was so relieved I had the detective there.”
In an effort to stop others from falling for complex scams like this one, DeMarino and the unnamed woman are now sharing her story.
