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Fake Gold Scam: Two 'Handymen' Duped Victims Out Of $260,000
By
Jen Chung
Published Oct 20, 2016
Modified Oct 20, 2016
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By
Jen Chung
Published Oct 20, 2016
Modified Oct 20, 2016
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Two men are accused of posing as handymen who miraculously found gold during a previous job and then sold what was actually fake gold to unsuspecting victims for tens of thousands of dollars.
The police say that the scammers have struck three times in Queens' 109th Precinct, using this M.O.: "In each incident, the individuals contacted the victims by phone purporting to a handyman and offering them various construction related services. They then inform the victims that during a previous project, they discovered a bag of gold and would be willing to sell them gold at a discounted price.
"The individuals then meet with the victims and provide them a piece of gold that they claim was cut from the recovered gold. The victims would then take that piece of gold and test its quality. The individual would then sell the victim fake gold for an agreed upon amount."
The first incident was on July 29th, when a 54-year-old man met the pair near College Point Boulevard and "agreed to purchase the fake gold for $80,000."
On October 3rd a 60-year-old man met the suspects in front of 34-69 Leavitt Street "where he agreed to purchase the fake gold for $140,000."
Two days later, on October 5th, a 50-year-old man met the suspects near Main Street and Kissena Boulevard "where he agreed to purchase the fake gold for $40,000."
The NYPD released surveillance video of the suspects on July 29th, describing one as 5'8" and 150 pounds, wearing a "gray shirt, blue jeans [sic] and brown jeans" and the other as being 5'7" and 155 pounds and last seen wearing a light color shirt, black pants and white sneakers.
Anyone with information in regards to this incident is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime stoppers website at WWW.NYPDCRIMESTOPPERS.COM or by texting their tips to 274637 (CRIMES) then enter TIP577.
Tagged
fake gold
gold scam
grand larceny
queens
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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