JUNE 23–In an audacious and heartbreaking scheme, a pair of elderly Floridians were swindled out of $400,000 in gold bars by a phone fraudster who claimed that the victims were facing arrest due to illegal activity in their respective Amazon accounts, according to court records.
Last month, a 78-year-old Jensen Beach resident called police to report that he had been bilked out of $154,000 after receiving a call from a man claiming to be an Amazon representative.
After being told about purported fraud on his account, the victim was transferred to a “Brian Alba,” who said he was “an agent with the US Government and that based on the activity there were several warrants out for his arrest.”
“Alba” said he could keep the man out of jail, but the victim would first have to obtain a $154,000 cashier’s check and then use the funds to purchase two gold bars (each of which weighed a kilo and cost in excess of $75,000.) “Alba” assured the septuagenarian that he would “send him a cashier’s check after he received the gold, for the amount he paid for it.”
After obtaining the gold, the victim put the bars in an old iPhone box and wrapped the package to make it look like a gift. With “Alba” on the phone directing him, the man drove on May 24 to a drop-off location and placed the package in the back seat of a sedan when the driver rolled down the window.
The elderly man only called police when he continued to get calls from “Alba” seeking more gold. The victim, cops say, “began to feel like the entire thing was a scam.”
www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/revolting/gold-scheme-621903