FBI Sting on Alleged Gold Bar Fraud
August 18, 22
(IDEX Online) - A man has appeared in court in the US accused of posing as a government official and persuading a woman to buy gold bars worth $330,000.
Gaurang Contractor, 38, from New Jersey, is accused of attempted larceny from a person over 60.
Police say he claimed to be a government official investigating an identity fraud ring and told the woman to buy the gold from a jewelry store, to "avoid prosecution", and a federal court officer would pick it up from her.
The FBI set up a sting operation with fake gold bars and arranged for the suspect to collect them from an undercover car in a parking lot.
"Local and federal agents moved into the area, at which point the suspect attempted to evade officers," said he Hadley Police Department, Massachusetts.
"Officers quickly boxed in the suspect and he was taken into custody".
A judge in Eastern Hampshire District Court ordered Contractor to be held on $20,000 bail.