The Somerville Police have taken two recent reports in which elderly victims responded to alerts on their computers and were then instructed to use their bank savings to buy gold bars to “protect their assets.”

Other examples of these scams are listed below:

• Grandparent scams: Fraudsters call victims posing as a grandchild, relative, or lawyer in distress, claiming a family member is in some sort of serious legal or medical trouble and needs money immediately. The fraudster may claim, for example, that the victim’s loved one has been in a motor vehicle accident, killed someone, and was arrested. The fraudster may instruct the victim to send money to a specific address, or a driver may be sent to the victim’s location to either pick up the money or drive the victim to the bank to withdraw cash. These drivers are not always aware that they are facilitating a crime.

• Government Impersonation: Scammers pose as a government or law enforcement entity, threatening to arrest or prosecute the victim because their identification or social security cards were found in a package containing drugs seized by the government. The victim is told they can only prove they are a victim of identity theft by liquidating their funds into cash, gold, and other precious metals to be put into a “government-owned” bank account.

• Tech Support with Government Impersonation: A victim receives alerts on their computer telling them to call a helpdesk line to resolve an issue that is not real. The “helpdesk” inspects the computer and claims to find illegal purchases, like child sex abuse material (CSAM). The scammer transfers the victim to a person posing as a financial institution, who threatens the victim with criminal charges. The victim may then be transferred to yet another scammer impersonating a Federal Trade Commission (FTC) or Department of Justice (DOJ) representative claiming the victim must put their funds in a DOJ escrow or bank account.

Here are some tips to protect yourself and your loved ones:

• The U.S. government and legitimate businesses will never ask you to purchase gold or other precious metals.
• Limit what you post online. Never disclose your home address or agree to meet strangers to deliver cash or precious metals.
• Don’t click unsolicited pop-ups on your computer, links sent via texts, or links and attachments embedded in emails from unknown or spoofed senders.
• Don’t call unknown telephone numbers shown in pop-ups, texts, or emails.
• Don’t download software at the request of unknown individuals.
• Don’t let unknown individuals access your computer.

Source: FBI Boston Warns of Increase in Gold Bar and Bulk Cash Courier Scams — FBI

— Somerville Police Department