NEW YORK (WABC) -- There's a new scam circulating worth its weight in gold. Victims are being convinced they have to back up their bank accounts with the precious metal.
So, they're tricking victims into going and buying gold bars and then picking the gold up at their front door.
It's happening across the country and in our area recently.
These relentless criminals hooked a Queens woman into sending them her life savings, but what's scary is it started in cyberspace and then jumped to the sidewalk.
By the time she realized it was a scam, she was out $700,000.
Store owner Aziz Amin says he only heard about the gold bar scam making headlines across the country months after he sold 24-karat gold bars and coins to a Forest Hills wife and mother who got swindled out of her life savings.
"I said what are you going to do with all this gold she said she was going to give to her daughter," Amin said.
"So you didn't suspect anything," 7 On Your Side's Nina Pineda said.
"No," he said.
"How much did you end up sending these scammers?" Pineda asked.
"$700,000," said Eva Rothman, victim. "$700,000 total."
Eva was warned to keep what she was doing a secret.
"Hi Eva, this is the FTC," a voicemail said.
She was convinced by an imposter pretending to work for the government that her bank accounts were hacked, and that she was being watched.
"Well, they were saying that I was under surveillance and that I could go to jail if I told anybody," Eva said. "And I can't even tell my own family that lives with me, because they would be taken into custody, they would be taken into custody."
Over two months of emails, phone calls, and texts Mrs. Rothman was manipulated: first draining her checking account. She was instructed to place $20,000 cash in a shoebox, go outside to the street and wait.
"I brought the money down, the box, down, the car, pulled up," she said.
"You place it in the back seat," Pineda said.
"Yeah," Eva said.
But it would get much, much worse.
The fake "agent" would control her into cashing out a recent inheritance.
Eva was told to come to Jackson Heights to a specific store and buy gold bars. She did this three times.
In the space of one week, she would take a taxi, go up to the shop, and purchase gold bars and gold coins.
"One 10 oz bar can be worth around $28,000 more or less depending on the price of gold at the time," Amin said.
The first purchase on May 15th was $123,000 worth, then $249,000. A day later she bought 10 of the 10 oz 24 karat bars which went up to $305,000 on May 22. The grand total with the shoebox of $20,000 in cash was $698,355.
"They even asked me to take pictures of it, to text it to them, inside the box, outside. I don't know why they need your inside box. Outside of the box, seal it with tape, masking tape, put a case number on it that they gave me, and just bring it downstairs and put it in the car," Eva said.
"If it happened to my family it can happen to anyone," said Lyle Rothman, the victim's nephew.
Lyle Rothman, the rabbi of Community Synagogue in Port Washington, is trying to help her recoup the money.
"There's not a cent left," Lyle said.
"I would say, would you do this to your mother? I just can't understand why people are doing these things. They don't have a heart. They're not human. It's terrible," Eva said.
The Nassau County district attorney does have one of the alleged gold brick couriers under arrest right now and in jail, as part of yet another case, but the exact same scam. Eva said the NYPD did pay her a visit and found malware on her computer
So, how did they get to her in the first place?
It started on her computer when she was on the train, her screen froze and it said to call a number. This happened because she got an email with a link and after she clicked on it was malware and they had remote access. Then they had her hooked using scare tactics.
7 On Your Side also spoke to the owner of the store she bought from and he told us that he's not selling to senior citizens anymore and not accepting bank transfers until he verifies with the bank and family members.
Eva said she knew she was scammed when she didn't get the check in the mail that she was promised.
Eva was sent fake receipts from the U.S. Treasury and promised the gold would be exchanged for a check to secure her assets.
She was given a receipt for every time she sent the gold.
The check though obviously never came.
The big takeaway:
Don't call random numbers that appear on your screen or in a text, and don't fall for phishing attempts in email links.
Most importantly never give or send money to people you don't know, no matter who they pretend to be.
If you are concerned for your safety go to the police office in person.
Finally, listen to people warning you.
Many people tried to warn her it was a scam: her bank teller, and her financial advisor, but the scammers say to their victims that people will try to stop them. So, they tell you to lie and make you think this is the only way to protect your money and family.
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