Consumer Connection

Exposing Gold Bar Scams

• Michelle Escobar • Season 1 • Episode 8

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In this episode of Consumer Connection, we delve into the world of gold bar scams with a special guest, Detective Sean Petty from the Montgomery County Department of Police's Financial Crimes Section. Hosted by Michelle Escobar, an OCP investigator, this episode uncovers the intricacies of these deceptive crimes.

Tune in to learn:

  • What gold bar scams are
  • How these scams start and what it looks like when you’re being approached
  • What victims are told and how they’re contacted
  • How scammers pose as imposters and persuade their victims
  • Tips to help avoid such scams

We also discuss a recent gold bar case that highlights scammers' tactics. Don't miss this insightful episode, which aims to protect you and your loved ones from falling victim to these fraudulent schemes.

For additional information, visit MCDP’s website at https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/POL/index.html or visit OCP’s website at www.montgomerycountymd.gov/ocp. Have a question or suggestion for a future episode? Send an email to consumerconnection@montgomerycountymd.gov.

 

Michelle Escobar:

Welcome to Consumer Connection, where we empower you with the knowledge to make smart financial and consumer decisions. I'm your host, michelle Escobar, and today we're discussing a scam that is impacting Montgomery County as well as the nation Gold Bar scams. The US political climate and fluctuation in the market lead savers and investors to scurry for ways to protect their hard-earned nest eggs, and that may make them susceptible to traps like gold bar scam. Today, we're fortunate to be joined by Detective Sean Petty, who is a 15-year veteran of the Montgomery County Police Department of the Montgomery County Police Department. After beginning his service in the criminal enforcement unit, he became a detective investigating violent crimes, burglaries, missing persons and other criminal cases, including financial crimes. He currently works with the financial crime section, where he investigates complex and sophisticated fraudulent matters. Detective Petty has received numerous individual and unit awards and certifications throughout his career and is now a nationally sought-after expert on gold bar scam investigations.

Det. Sean Petty:

Good morning, sean, and welcome to the show, thank you. Thank you for having me Good morning.

Michelle Escobar:

Of course, thank you for being here. I know today you're going to help us break down the gold bar scams, how victims get exploited, ways to avoid becoming a victim, and I'm really excited because you'll be discussing a local case that has recently gained attention of national news outlets. But first things first, please tell us about the financial crime section and your role there.

Det. Sean Petty:

So the financial crimes section is within our criminal investigations division of the department. It's myself and several other detectives. We have a sergeant and we deal with any financial crimes, any financial matters that happen in the county. We give reports in relation to you name the financial crime. If it's an embezzlement, it could be a theft of services, it could be exploitation of vulnerable adults. We deal with quite a lot of financial crimes in the county. We know that Montgomery County is one of the wealthiest counties in the state and so you know it is a target rich environment for suspects, and so we get reports from all over the county for suspects, and so we get reports from all over the county. All of the districts, as well as the allied agencies may send us their reports in regards to financial crimes, to assist in investigating.

Michelle Escobar:

And so today we're going to deal with the Gold Bar scams. And for Montgomery County to be one of the richest counties yes, I would imagine that, as these scammers target Montgomery County like never before, but break down the Gold Bar scam for us. What is the Gold Bar scam?

Det. Sean Petty:

Yeah, so the Gold Bar scam is really a family of imposter scams government imposter scams and it really starts off very simple. It's a text message. It could be a phone call or it could be a pop-up on somebody's computer and that pop-up ad may say your computer is infected with the virus. You need to call this number. The individual may click a link on that pop-up ad where they may call the phone number and from there it really starts the downward spiral into this gold bar scam. The victim's going to be told, once they call that number, your computer's a Apple support or it's an IT person with Geek Squad or something to that effect. They think that they're being helped when in fact they're really giving access to the scammer. They're providing remote desktop access to the scammer, who is then going to be able to access any file on their computer. You know they may ask them to download certain applications and the scammer is going to take advantage of that download. And from there the scammer is going to say oh, your bank account has also been compromised. You know, the bad guys have gotten access to your computer and they've compromised your bank account, and so we need you to divulge and provide all of your bank accounts to us so that we can instruct you on how to keep your assets safe. And so the victim, believing that their bank account has now been compromised, as well as their computer, they're providing that information to the scammer. And from there the scammer is going to say you need to withdraw your assets and you need to either box the cash up or use that cash to purchase gold bars. And the scammer is going to tell the victim that they are going to send a courier with a federal agency it may be the FTC, it may be the FBI, it may be the FDIC, any three-letter agency in the government and they're going to convince the victim that this courier is going to come and retrieve their assets, the cash or gold, and it's going to be placed in a safety deposit box in the Department of Treasury somewhere. And from there, you know, the agency that's supposed to be helping them is going to conduct an investigation and at the conclusion of the investigation, the victim's going to get all this money back. They're going to get their gold back and they're going to have resolved the virus on the computer, the compromise of their bank accounts. And so, at some point, the victim will relinquish all their assets and they're left with nothing. And then they reach out to the scammer who they think is helping them, and the scammer ceases all contact because they've gotten all the money that they can get. There's nothing else to get, and so from there the victim realizes they've been scammed.

Det. Sean Petty:

During this process they may receive paperwork that looks legitimate.

Det. Sean Petty:

We've seen victims have received documentation that says you know, the money that you had in the box or the gold bars that you provided to us were placed into this security deposit box, and they may list a number, they may list a code, they may list an address for where this safety deposit box is.

Det. Sean Petty:

It may have a logo on the document, it may have a signature of an individual who may legitimately be affiliated with the agency that they're purporting to be, whether it be the FBI or the FDIC or the FTC. But it is all fictitious documentation. Nothing is legitimate, and some of the documents are better crafted than others, but majority of the documents will have some errors in them, and if the victim's not paying close enough attention to it, they may completely not even notice what it is, and so they're left with having lost literally hundreds of thousands of dollars, in some cases millions of dollars and that's where we come in. We get the notification, we get the police report that a victim has been scammed. They realized after several months they've been in touch with an individual and that individual is not with the federal government.

Michelle Escobar:

I was going to ask yeah, how long is that process? Because that it has to take months. All this time they're thinking they're safe. When they finally find out that their money's gone, how, what's the process that long?

Det. Sean Petty:

So we we've seen cases as short as maybe two or three months, but we've also seen cases where the victim was in contact with the scammer for well over a year, year and a half, and so it really does complicate matters. If we're dealing with, you know, over a year worth of interactions, you know where there'd be text messages and phone calls, emails back and forth, it, it, it, it. It takes a lot to, to, to continue the ruse and the scammers know that, at the end of the day, if they can get any amount of money during that course of two months, six months, a year, whatever they get is a profit and so it's worth it for them, and so in some cases it's a long time that the scammer is spending with the victim.

Michelle Escobar:

And why gold bars.

Det. Sean Petty:

Gold bars because gold is everywhere. You can go anywhere and everybody's going to know what gold is. It doesn't take much for anybody to recognize gold has value. The big thing is gold has increased in value over the past few years and it's an easy commodity to transport. I've said in some presentations where I've stood in front of a crowd and I could be holding upwards of $300,000, $400,000 of gold in my pockets and you would not know it. Gold bars are small, they're easy to transport and they're easy to secrete, and so you know when you're talking about a kilo of gold we're talking about. You know $75,000, $80,000 a kilo and you put five of those in your pocket. You would never know, because they're the size of a cell phone and so scammers know that one. They're easy to purchase. You can purchase them online, unfortunately, and they can be shipped to a victim's house and it's easy for the victim to retrieve and it's easier for the scammer to direct the victim to where to go to get it.

Michelle Escobar:

This gold bar scam. Is this something? When was it discovered in Montgomery County, like how long ago? Is it a newer type scam?

Det. Sean Petty:

So the government imposter scam is not necessarily new. Scammers have been posing as agents of the government for a long time. Typically, we've seen it in terms of you know, they'll say you have a warrant for your arrest and you need to resolve that warrant via a gift card. You need to go buy Apple gift cards or Google Pay gift cards. Typically, we've seen it in gift cards. We've also seen it in terms of you know, you need to get cash.

Det. Sean Petty:

In terms of the gold bars, we started seeing those in 2023 here in Montgomery County. I remember when I got the first phone call from the patrol officer. They were on the scene of an incident and they were talking to the victim and they said our victim had given away a considerable amount of gold bars and I thought that they were talking about fake gold. We've definitely seen instances where victims have been told that, oh, you're going to buy some gold and it's really a fake gold bar. But this situation it was real gold and the victim didn't have it. They had already given it to the scammer.

Det. Sean Petty:

So it was new, it was different, and from there we started seeing more and more cases and even up to today, we're still seeing cases across the county where individuals are believing that they're in touch with the federal government. They're purchasing gold bars and they're meeting up with scammers whom they think are couriers with the federal government and they're handing off these gold bars and boxes of cash. So really, right around 2023, up until present day and I don't necessarily foresee the scammers stopping anytime soon as long as gold has the value that it's going to maintain, as long as there is a victim that is going to believe that the scammer is with the federal government, the scammers are going to continue to reach out and they're going to continue to contact individuals and hoping that they can get as much as they can.

Michelle Escobar:

And so how are the victims targeted? Once they get in their computer, do they see the bank account and say, ok, now, this is the one. I have to keep this one.

Det. Sean Petty:

So we know that there are really mass contacts, we know that the scammers have contact lists, we know that they have individuals' phone numbers, we know that they definitely do pass around individuals' information, and so you know those pop-ups. They may come in the form of an email and the victim may click on something. Victim may click on something. And so we tell people.

Det. Sean Petty:

You know, if, if, if you didn't ask for it, don't click on it. If you didn't want it, don't open it. Um so it. It really is just a mass marketing type deal If, if, if they can get anybody on the hook, they will get it on the hook. I've gotten phone calls myself, you know, believing that they were going to get me. You know, maybe the text message you know you're the big one that we've seen lately is the easy pass um um unpaid tickets.

Det. Sean Petty:

Um, you know you, you've gone through, uh, the, the tolls and you need to pay this toll. Well, I know that that's not true for me, because we have it in our car and it just it's not legitimate. And so they're hoping to get anybody and everybody, and if they can get the right one, they're going to take it as far as they can take it.

Michelle Escobar:

How long before a victim will give in to the scammer? Why are these victims working with the scammers?

Det. Sean Petty:

In the cases that we've seen, the victims genuinely believe that they are victims of a hacking or they're the victims of some type of crime. We've had victims that were told you know your assets were compromised and the money that was in your account is being used for nefarious acts. It could be child pornography. It could be purchasing missiles for Russia. It could be drug trafficking, russia. It could be drug trafficking.

Det. Sean Petty:

The scammer is going to get the victim to believe that they are unwittingly helping bad guys engage in crime, and so the victim doesn't want that to happen.

Det. Sean Petty:

They don't want to be associated with those crimes, and so they think that they're helping the government. They think that they're helping the federal agency investigate whatever crime the scammer comes up with in that instance, and so from there, there's a level of trust that is built, and it's increasingly difficult for legitimate law enforcement, because when we come in and we try to tell victims you are the victim of, they don't believe legitimate law enforcement, and so we have to then break the trust that they built with the scammer and build up our own trust with them, letting them know hey, we are the good guy, we are the legitimate law enforcement agency that can help you legitimately, and the way we do that is we let them know. We're not going to ask you to take out your money and give it to us. We're not going to ask you to do. That is we let them know. We're not going to ask you to take out your money and give it to us. We're not going to ask you to do that. The bad guys will. We're not going to do that.

Michelle Escobar:

Yes, that's really important and that's crazy that you have to convince them. They've gained so much trust and have built such a connection with the scammer that they truly believe that they're doing the right thing and helping the government. What are the demographics on the victims?

Det. Sean Petty:

So the majority of the victims that we're seeing are elderly individuals, some of them a little older than others, but we've seen consistently that the scammers are getting older individuals to believe that they are legitimate law enforcement. Unfortunately, some of the victims have been, you know, in their early or late 90s and the majority of them have retired from whatever profession they were working in. They've built up a nest egg. They were living off of the savings you know. They were living off their 401ks or their checking or savings account, the money that they had saved up over all the years. That's what the scammer is targeting and unfortunately we are not seeing the victims getting that money back. So the scammers are really going after older individuals who have the money and who are believing that they are with the government.

Michelle Escobar:

Again, it's really important to check on your family, check what they're doing. If they're talking to somebody too long on the phone, texting too long on the phone all day with someone. We got to check on our family because the impact on these victims talk to me a little bit about the impact on, like you just said, they don't get their money back.

Det. Sean Petty:

Yeah, unfortunately, the victims that we've identified, that we've communicated with, there is a consistent feeling of shame. Each of them has expressed a feeling of regret. There is a wish that they had never fallen victim to this, and some of them were saving up money for, you know, maybe to pass down to loved ones, maybe they were planning on paying off a house or, you know, just enjoying their retirement years, and so some of them have been put in difficult situations. They've had to make difficult decisions about what do they do. Do they end up moving out of their current residence? Are they going to lose the house? Are they going to be able to continue to take care of other things that they were planning on doing over the next few years?

Det. Sean Petty:

We have not seen these scammers really pay for what they've done monetarily. In terms of the cases that we've been able to charge. We've certainly asked for restitution from these couriers that we've arrested, but we know that they do not possess the bulk of the money. They no longer are in possession of the gold bars or the boxes of cash, and so it really has been difficult for the victims in terms of, you know, recouping their financial losses. You know they may be seeing you know justice in terms of the courts. You know in terms of you know individuals being charged and individuals being sentenced, but the monetary restitution is not there yet.

Michelle Escobar:

Yeah, no, I understand that now and I think this will help. You have a consumer case that you brought at. I believe that this is the first time that maybe you're going to discuss it fully after the sentencing so this is our exclusive.

Michelle Escobar:

We appreciate you talking about that and I think it'll help our consumers by you talking about this and going through what the case. It'll help them think as well through hey, am I going through this? I really hope. I think this will really help our listeners Talk to us a little bit about this case.

Det. Sean Petty:

Yeah, so this case we actually just this is the last case that we resolved. This subject was just sentenced a couple of weeks ago. It's Mr Huang, from New York. So in this particular situation, you know, in October 2024, montgomery County Police were contacted by a husband and wife group that they realized that they had been scammed and in this particular situation, it started out very simple. It was a text message from a supposed Apple support technician. There was a belief that the victims had an unauthorized charge on their account and it directed the victims to call a number. And that's that's how it started. Something as simple as a text message and a phone call to this number started their several months interaction and the financial loss of a considerable amount of money.

Det. Sean Petty:

Interaction and the financial loss of a considerable amount of money. Once the victims called the number, they were directed to install some software on the computer to allow the scammer to deal with the compromise that they had experienced or that they were told that they were experiencing, all of which was fake. There had been no compromise of their account, there had been no unauthorized transactions on their accounts, and from there, the scammer was able to access their bank accounts. They were able to convince the victims to wire money to an account overseas, to withdraw money to purchase gold bars, and the victims complied, believing that they were being helped by a federal agent. They were then instructed to box up the gold and then to hand it off to individuals who were couriers. Those couriers were also believed to be associated with the federal government. The couriers came and they picked up the gold associated with the federal government. The couriers came and they picked up the gold.

Det. Sean Petty:

At some point, they received paperwork that purported to be from the federal government, and it was then that the victims realized this doesn't quite seem right. There were inconsistencies with the paperwork and there were things that just didn't match up to the victims, and so they, at that point, contacted the police and we were able to step in and, with the assistance of the FBI, the Baltimore field office um, they were instrumental in this situation because, uh, um, I, I, I needed a fake gold, because I knew that the scammers were going to want additional gold bars, and so, um, we decided to conduct an operation and was able to secure fake gold bars, gold bars that looked legitimate, they looked real, even when I saw them and was boxing them up if I did not know any better, I would have assumed that they were legitimate gold bars as well, and the reason we needed it to be so realistic was because we knew that from previous cases and other investigations we knew that the scammers, the couriers, were intentionally looking to see if law enforcement had been involved and if what they were receiving, the packages that they were receiving, were either compromised with either tracking devices or where the box is empty, or where the gold, where the bar, is real. So we needed to make we needed to make it as realistic as possible, and so we were able to secure that with the assistance of the FBI. And from there there was an interaction between the victims and the scammer and he decided to send another courier, believing that they were going to receive over $80,000 in gold bars. Once the courier came down, he received the box from one of our undercover agents and from there they took it back to New York and we were following right along with them. So he was arrested up in New York at some point and was extradited back to Maryland and we start the judicial process and he subsequently pled guilty to all the charges.

Det. Sean Petty:

We know that the couriers are not the only individuals involved in these scams, and so our goal is to identify not just the couriers, but also the individuals that are engaging, the victims, those individuals that are overseas that are participating in these scams.

Det. Sean Petty:

We know that there are call centers overseas, and so we are really focused on targeting those call centers. The couriers are absolutely central parts of the scam. Without their participation, without their picking up the packages of gold or cash, obviously, the scam would not be able to continue, but we know that they are not the top of the food chain, and our office is committed to going after the top of the food chain. So, with this case particular, we were able to gather a lot of good information and we were able to receive a positive outcome in terms of the suspect not only being arrested but being sentenced to 10 years in jail. The judge looked at the case and saw that it was not just a simple theft of of you know products. It was. It was a significant theft from the victims in this situation, and I am I am pleased that they were able to see some type of justice in their particular case.

Michelle Escobar:

And these are huge operations. I mean you're talking about call centers. And then the way it even started, the victims think that they're talking to an Apple tech right. Correct. And so how then does the Apple tech say, hey, we have to get law enforcement involved. And then okay, so have to get law enforcement involved and then, okay, so now law enforcement is supposedly involved. How long did it take, what was the process, for these particular victims to finally say hey, some, we need to report this to Montgomery County police.

Det. Sean Petty:

Yeah. So when, when the victims reached out to Apple, they directed them to a financial institution who was not a legitimate financial institution. Again, it was another scammer in the process. And then from there they were directed to a federal agency. Again, it was not a legitimate federal agent. So the scammers are definitely layering it between not only tech companies but financial institutions and also the government agencies.

Det. Sean Petty:

And so you know that first few contacts with the victims, you know it it it lasted several hours. You know those phone calls and text messages. They were not, you know, short lived conversations. Those were very long interactions that the scammers were having with the victims and they were devoting significant amounts of time over several months with the scammers. And so you know it is a long process. It's not an easy process for the scammer to get the victim convinced, but the scammer is willing to take the time and the effort to do it, because if they know that they can get $300,000 out of victims over the course of two or three months, it's worth it for them to spend the time.

Det. Sean Petty:

And one of the things that we saw in this case, as well as other cases, is the time that victims are spending on the phone with the scammers is an extremely significant amount of time and that in and of itself can be a clue to victims. If an individual is spending, you know, four hours on the phone with you every single day of the week, they are probably not with law enforcement. You know we're talking, you know, upwards of 12, 16 hours on the phone with one victim in a week and I don't have that time to devote to one victim on the phone. If I'm spending time on the phone with a victim, I'm probably going to meet them at some point and have that long conversation with them. I'm not going to spend 16 hours on the phone talking to one victim.

Det. Sean Petty:

It's just not how we operate. It's not how we do business, not how we investigate crimes. So you know, spend 16 hours on the phone talking to one victim, it's just not how we operate. It's not how we do business, not how we investigate crimes. So you know, 16 hours on the phone in a week, that's a very long time to talk to somebody and get them to believe that you're with the government. So that in and of itself is a red flag for victim.

Michelle Escobar:

And how long was your investigation? How long did your investigation take before we got to?

Det. Sean Petty:

Yeah, so in terms of our investigation, because the the scammer is is continuing to believe that the victim is going to purchase, you know, more gold or box up more cash Um, we have to move rapidly because they're looking at a short window. The scammer knows how long it takes to order gold, they know that the victim should be getting the gold at a certain time, and so from the time that you know crime is reported to us to the time that we actually, you know, have the day of the operation, you know it, it we would obviously like as much time as possible, but we're not gifted with that because, um, you know, we're looking at, within a week or two, that, uh, you know we are being contacted and setting up a sting operation and there are certainly a lot of moving pieces when you're talking about an undercover operation. The biggest one is is the safety aspect of everybody involved. Not only do I have to be concerned about the safety of my victims, but I need to be concerned about the safety of the other detectives that are involved in the operation as well, as in this situation, we had other FBI agents involved. So there were a lot of moving pieces involved. Certainly, a lot of man, hours went into setting up the operation and putting it on.

Det. Sean Petty:

But luckily, you know, our unit works very well together. We are able to pass off and do things independently and then come together as a unit to pull off an operation like this. And even though I was a lead detective in this situation, it would be physically impossible for me to have done anything in this situation, in this case. Without the assistance of the other detectives in our unit and without the assistance of the FBI, we certainly wouldn't have been able to pull it off.

Det. Sean Petty:

So I mean, it really does take a lot to pull off these undercover operations, and that's why these cases are so difficult to not only work but also solve. You know we're dealing with a lot of information from the victims. Sometimes they don't remember everything because they have been in contact with the scammers for so long, and so you know, when we're starting an investigation like this, it has to be rapid, but it also has to be thorough, because at the end of the day we still have to prove that case in court. Rapid, but it also has to be thorough because at the end of the day we still have to prove that case in court. And so you know it's certainly a lot of man. Hours went into not only this case but all the cases, but a lot of goodwill from the detectives that wanted to see this through.

Michelle Escobar:

Wow, thank you. That's incredible, incredible work for all of you. How many cases do we have of these gold bar scams in Montgomery County?

Det. Sean Petty:

Yeah, In terms of the investigations that we've done, we've seen quite a few cases. Of all of the cases that we've gotten, we've charged nine people. In these cases there are several that we have not identified yet because they're in warrant status, so their information is not public, but we have charged nine individuals across these cases that we've seen. We know that that is even the nine that we've charged. We know that that is a drop in the bucket for what we're seeing in terms of the number of cases that are coming across our desk. And, you know, even though it's only nine individuals, we've still been able to save victims here in Montgomery County over $7 million yes, and so you know when we're talking about.

Det. Sean Petty:

You know financial losses. Yes, victims have lost significant amounts of money, but we've also prevented millions of dollars being lost, millions of dollars being lost, and so you know the hope is to continue to get the word out, to continue the education and the information being pushed out to victims, to let them know. If somebody contacts you and says that they are with the federal government and they want you to take your assets and transfer those assets into gold bars, they want you to take your assets and to box them up and to pass them off to individuals who are posing as federal agents. It's a scam. It is a scam all day, every day. There's no way, shape or form that it's not a scam. It is absolutely a scam. Anybody telling you to take your assets and transfer them it's a scam.

Det. Sean Petty:

Yeah, we do not do that. The federal government doesn't do it, nobody on the state level, the local level. We will never tell anybody to take your money and turn it into gold and give it to us to safeguard. We would never do that, and so we want to continue to push the word out.

Michelle Escobar:

Yes.

Det. Sean Petty:

Protect yourselves and not give your money away to these scammers.

Michelle Escobar:

Yeah, I was just wanting to talk about red flags because we talked about not staying on the phone for hours with someone. I mean, that's definitely okay, that's a red flag. And then, of course, right now you're talking about you know, if someone is telling you to transfer your money to buy gold bars and to hand it to someone, that's definitely red flag. Anything else that that we should watch out for?

Det. Sean Petty:

Yeah, those pop-up ads. You definitely need to be careful on what you're clicking online. If you didn't ask for it, if you didn't request it, you do not have an obligation to open it. If it's an email that you don't recognize, you're not required to open it. You can control what you click online and if there's a pop-up ad on your computer, don't click on it. If you didn't, if you didn't ask for a you know, a box to be shipped to your house, you shouldn't be expecting a box to be shipped to your house If you didn't ask for it. Don't click on a link that says there's a package from UPS that you mailed and we need to verify your address. Yeah, there's nothing that you did to warn it, so don't click on the link.

Det. Sean Petty:

If you get a text message saying your Apple card has been compromised and you don't have a credit card, then you know it has to be a scam.

Det. Sean Petty:

It can't be anything legitimate if you don't possess a credit card. So those things are very easy to look out for, to pay attention to and for those individuals that have elderly individuals in your family check on them. One of the things that we've noticed in cases is the scammer is telling elderly individuals do not discuss the existence of this case, don't discuss that we are working this case with you, and so they're told that and victims are adhering to that. And so if you end up talking to your loved one and they are very coy about who they've been interacting with, they're very quiet about their telephone calls and conversations with individuals, double check. Just ask a few more questions, keep pushing, keep prodding, because it may be nothing, but it very well could be something. It could be that that individual has been convinced that the person that they're communicating with, the supposed federal agent, has told them don't talk to anybody about the existence of this case. And so continue to ask the questions, continue to push and prod, because it could end up helping in the end.

Michelle Escobar:

I think it's important for our listeners to know what I'm hearing. Is they cover all their bases?

Det. Sean Petty:

They absolutely do. This is their profession. Yes, this is what they do, just as sure as we in law enforcement. You know we practice and we train Scammers do too. They have a script. They know exactly what buttons to push with victims. They know exactly what to say, when to say it and how to say it to convince individuals that what they are saying is true, that what they're saying needs to be believed. And so I tell people it doesn't matter who you are, what you are, what you think you are. If you think that a scammer can't convince you, you are wrong. They can get you on the phone and they can end up convincing you anything. So you have to be careful about one who you're talking. So you have to be careful about one who you're talking to. You have to be careful about who you're interacting with and individuals with elderly folks in our families. We have to be vigilant about who they are interacting with as well, because they are the most susceptible to being compromised.

Michelle Escobar:

So I'm a family member or a possible victim and I suspect a scam. What should I do?

Det. Sean Petty:

If you believe that you are the victim of a scam or if you believe that a family member is involved in a scam, you definitely need to contact law enforcement right away. Give us a call, call the non-emergency number, file that police report and let us know as much information as you have. If you are the actual victim, you're probably going to have more information than if you're the family member, but we want to get as much information from you as possible so we can start looking into whether or not you're actually being victimized. I would rather you contact us and file a report and have it be nothing than to not call and file a report and to have it be something.

Michelle Escobar:

That's right.

Det. Sean Petty:

And then, two years down the line, we're looking back and saying we wish you would have contacted us.

Michelle Escobar:

Yeah.

Det. Sean Petty:

Call and file that police report. If you think that you're being victimized, we can assess and determine whether or not you are, and if all of those red flags are there from the jump, then we can probably assume that you are being victimized. But definitely we will never know unless you contact us and let us know. So contact your local law enforcement agency. If you're here in Montgomery County, call Montgomery County Police Department. You can call our non-emergency number and file the report there.

Det. Sean Petty:

One of the other things that I tell people to do is file a report with IC3.gov the letter I, the letter C, the number 3.gov, that is, with the FBI's Internet Crimes Reporting System. Our office, we have access to those reports as well. You can put all of the information in those reports online and file the report with the FBI as well. So definitely let us know, because the more information we have, the better we are able to target the scam centers across the sea. Those scam centers, those call centers, we know are targeting individuals across the United States, and so while they may have victimized one or two individuals here in Montgomery County, they may have also contacted one or two individuals in Delaware, one or two individuals in Texas, one or two individuals in California and with that information we can then link all of those cases together and identify. Okay, we have a commonality between these individuals. We have a specific call center that is targeting individuals that we can then go after ourselves.

Michelle Escobar:

Sean, thanks so much for being here. Thanks so much for all the work that you do.

Det. Sean Petty:

Thank you.

Michelle Escobar:

And, by the way, don't forget to subscribe on your favorite podcast platform and keep an eye out for upcoming episodes, where we'll continue to bring you important updates and insights on consumer protection. Have a topic in mind for a future episode or a question for our team? Drop us an email at consumerconnectionatmontgomerycountymdgov. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with your friends and family and stay in the loop with OCP by searching the hashtag MCGOCP on social media. Remember, knowledge is key for safeguarding your consumer rights. Stay informed, stay protected and stay connected Until next time.

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