LINCOLN — A 78-year-old man from Lincoln was scammed out of more than $98,000 in gold after falling victim to an elaborate online scheme earlier this month, according to court documents.
It all began on June 3, when the man received a suspicious email regarding a $1,000 PayPal charge. Though he didn’t have a PayPal account, he called the number listed in the email to report the transaction. On the call, scammers persuaded him to grant them remote access to his computer.
Once connected, the scammers tricked the man into believing that, instead of being refunded $1,000, his account had mistakenly received a $100,000 refund. They then convinced him he needed to return the money by purchasing gold to avoid tax penalties.
Acting on this, the victim bought $98,308 worth of gold—around 29 ounces—from Lincoln Coin & Bullion using a cashier’s check. A man later came to the victim’s home on June 5 and picked up the gold.
On June 6, the scammer reached out again, falsely claiming that due to a computer error, the man now owed another $100,000 in gold. When the man returned to purchase more, the coin shop’s owner became suspicious and alerted Lincoln police.
Authorities then worked with the victim to arrange a second gold pick-up as part of a sting operation. On Monday morning, a man arrived at the victim’s home and was arrested by police around 10:45 a.m.
The suspect, 29-year-old Chiragkumar Padsala, told officers he had flown in from California the day before. He was charged Tuesday with felony theft by unlawful taking of more than $5,000.
The victim later confirmed to police that Padsala was not the same individual who had picked up the gold the first time.
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