Montgomery County Police have arrested 34-year-old Wenhui Sun of Lake Arbor, California, for allegedly targeting elderly individuals through a government impersonation scheme involving gold bars.
According to investigators, criminals have tricked elderly people into converting their cash into gold bars, scamming them out of millions of dollars.
In early March, a victim reported being contacted by an individual claiming to be from the Office of the Inspector General—Federal Trade Commission. The victim was informed of an alleged identity theft, which led to a federal investigation involving drugs and money laundering. The suspect then instructed the victim to transfer all assets into gold bars, which would be retrieved by a courier posing as an “FBI Agent” and taken to the U.S. Department of the Treasury for safekeeping.
Complying with the suspect’s demands, the victim completed two deliveries of gold bars worth over $789,000 to the couriers. Through the investigation, detectives identified Sun as the courier for the second delivery, according to an MCPD press release.
On Monday, March 18, at approximately 7 p.m., Sun was arrested in Montgomery County following an operation conducted by the MCPD’s Financial Crimes Unit. He was transported to the Central Processing Unit and charged accordingly. Sun is currently being held without bond, and a plane ticket to California scheduled for the day of his arrest was found among his belongings.
Detectives believe there may be additional victims and remind the community that law enforcement will never attempt to contact individuals in this manner. Anyone with information regarding this case is asked to contact Montgomery County Police at (301) 279-8000 or provide anonymous tips to Crime Solvers of Montgomery County by calling toll-free at (866) 411-TIPS (8477), submitting a tip online, or through the P3 Tips app.
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