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More than $200,000 in gold bars was the target in a government-impersonation fraud that ended with two suspects in handcuffs at the victim's front door, the Metropolitan Police Department said Friday.
Chu Lin, 50, of Fresh Meadows, New York, and Xiean Cheng, 42, of Cornelius, North Carolina, each face a charge of second-degree financial fraud. The victim: an 85-year-old Washington, D.C., resident.
How the mechanics worked The scheme started July 8. Contact came first by email, then by phone.
The callers identified themselves as federal agents and delivered a specific threat: funds in the victim's bank account were "in jeopardy of being lost." The prescribed remedy was to convert the money to gold bars and hand physical custody over to the agents.
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