(Ken Silva, Headline USA) A Rhode Island store owner helped stop foreign scammers from swindling $240,000 worth of gold bars from an elderly victim, according to federal court records.
The attempted gold scam was revealed by the Justice Department on Monday in a criminal complaint against Chinese national Ka Hin Lam, who’s charged with wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
According to court records, a scammer called the victim in the case on Oct. 27 and said he was under Federal Exchange Commission investigation for numerous charges, including money laundering. The scammer convinced the victim to withdraw a total of $54,000 and hand it to a courier described as a 5’10” Asian male.
The scammers then became more audacious, telling their victim to purchase $240,000 worth of gold. Luckily for the victim, a store owner stopped him from being fleeced further. Instead of processing the victim’s transaction, the unnamed owner called the authorities.
“The owner of the store reported that a male party (Victim #1) had called his store twice on that day inquiring about buying $200,000 worth of gold bars. The store owner immediately recognized this as suspicious, especially because the same store owner was involved in a prior case heard in Federal Court last year involving the same type of scam,” states the criminal complaint, which was first reported by CourtWatch.
“The store owner denied the customer’s request. As Newport Police Officers were on the phone with the store owner, Victim #1 entered the store and inquired again about purchasing now $240,000 worth of gold. The store owner again denied his request and directed him to the Newport Police Department.”
Once the victim realized what was going on, he helped police catch the scammers.
First, the victim withdrew another $45,000 and went to meet the courier, who turned out to be a man named Samyag Uday Doshi. As Doshi pulled up in his Toyota Corolla to pick up the $45,000, he was confronted by Newport Police Officers and immediately began sobbing.
“Sir, I am just a student,” he said, according to court records.
An investigation into Doshi found that he helped pull off at least four other similar scams, receiving about $500 each time for his work. Doshi told police he answers to a man named Siad, who resides in Gujarat, India.
Doshi was charged with two state counts of obtaining property under false pretenses and two state counts of conspiracy, both felonies.
The investigation didn’t end there. Instead, the feds became involved. Police told Homeland Security Investigations—the DHS’s investigatory arm—that the victim was sending a package to Chicago for another scammer, Lam, to pick him.
That’s what happened on Nov. 13, when Lam went to a Chicago UPS store to pick up what the victim sent to him. Instead, Lam was met by HSI agents.
“LAM was interviewed and subsequently released. However during his interview, he provided consent to preview his cellular phones,” the criminal complaint states.
“Found inside of the phones was a considerable amount of evidentiary material, including videos of LAM opening packages containing proceeds from money pick-ups, identical to the one found so far in DOSHI’s phone.”
Along with being charged with wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud, Lam is subject to deportation. He was released on his own recognizance and has a preliminary hearing set for Dec. 4.
Ken Silva is the editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.
