‘People are losing their life savings’: Seven Maryland residents lost $6.3 million in a gold bar scam targeting seniors. How to make sure this doesn’t happen to you

Double check with a friend

When one of the scammers targeted a Maryland man in his early 90s, he avoided losing $200,000 by doing one thing: talking to his friends.

The friends immediately recognized the gold bar conversion as a con, and reported it to the police. They saved the man from losing his life savings, according to FOX 5 DC.

Any time you receive a phone call, email or ad that sounds too good to be true or very scary, and asks you to perform actions related to money, tell your friends and family and get their input. Scammers often prey on your emotions to get you to hand over money to a complete stranger. A friend can be more objective than you and help you sniff out anything strange.

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Look it up

A 74-year-old Bethesda man made nine trips to a Maryland gold store to convert a million dollars into gold bars. Luckily, he had seen the news recently and recognized that he was involved in a scam. He contacted the authorities and kept his million dollars, FOX 5 DC reports.

If you receive a call out of the blue from a stranger, look up what they’re saying to you on Google. You may have missed a news segment about a similar scam.

It’s always good to double-check the facts when a stranger rings you up — especially if it’s about your money. Feel free to look things up and ask them questions. Don’t believe the callers are who they claim to be, and check if law enforcement or government agencies ever contact people in such a manner.

Don’t engage with unknown people

The Montgomery County State's Attorney's Office put out an advisory to Maryland residents to ignore calls from unknown numbers and avoid clicking on pop-up ads online.

It may seem harmless to pick up a call from an unknown number, but scammers can use a one-on-one conversation to get into your head. In this case, the scammers pretend to be federal agents in order to prey on your fear and desire to be a good citizen.

If you’re worried about missing an important call from an unknown, but legitimate, phone number (e.g. a health care provider), you don’t need to worry. If the call is truly important, the caller will leave a message and you can call them back.

Avoid clicking on pop-up ads or links in emails from unknown senders. Those are easy ways for scammers to reel you in, as well as hack into your computer and extract important information, such as banking details.