Yongxian Huang / Photo courtesy MCPD
Police said a New York man was arrested in a $400,000 gold bar scam targeting a Bethesda couple.
Yongxian Huang, 23, of Brooklyn, was arrested, according to the Montgomery County Police Department (MCPD).
According to police, the victims — a 75-year-old husband and wife — got a text in September that seemed to be from Apple, notifying them of an unauthorized charge on their accounts and asking them to contact a representative.
The victims called a phone number that was provided and talked with people who portrayed themselves as Apple employees. The husband and wife were connected with Huang, who claimed to work for the Federal Trade Commission.
The couple was directed to convert their assets into gold bars. They made two purchases of gold bars worth more than $367,000 and a wire transfer of more than $41,000 before realizing they were scammed.
They contacted MCPD. Police and the FBI worked with the couple to keep in contact with the scammers and arranged a pick-up of more than $84,000 worth of gold bars. A detective posed as the female victim and gave a package to Huang. He was surveilled as he went to New York, where he was arrested by New York police.
Police also recently shared that a separate New York man, Yash Shah, 26, of Baldwin, was arrested in a local gold bar scam targeting an 88-year-old woman and her daughter.
