“If you’re looking to protect your assets with gold, look no further!” But wait, who is offering that advice? A quick Google search reveals that about 3.5 billion pieces of golden wisdom await you on the web.

It’s so bad that the FBI is alerting the public about a new gold scam trend its Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) is seeing develop at a frightening scale – up 180%, according to BioCatch, a financial industry security firm.

The scammers behind this ruse are banking on the recent success of gold, calling senior citizens to cash out all they have in their bank accounts and buy it or other precious metals to protect their funds. To make it convenient, the crooks are using their latest tactic, arranging for couriers to meet the victims in person to pick up the cash or precious metals. So far, the people who’ve fallen for this ploy have lost over $55 million.

The warning signs: Scene 1

The FBI says that, as far as it’s connected the dots, there are telltale signs that consumers need to know about this scam:

• Scammers often pretend to be tech support or government employees
• Scammers sometimes use a multi-layered approach, posing, in succession, as a technology company, a financial institution, and a US government official (e.g., the "Phantom Hacker" scam). 
• Scammers inform victims their financial accounts were hacked or are at risk of being hacked, and, as a result, their funds need to be protected. 
• Scammers instruct victims to liquidate their assets into cash and/or purchase gold, silver, or other precious metals. Sometimes, scammers instruct victims to wire funds to a metal dealer who will ship the precious metals to victims' homes.

The warning signs: Scene 2

“Once victims obtain the cash and/or precious metals, the scammers send couriers to retrieve the items at victims' homes or public locations,” the FBI noted. That’s an easy-to-detect warning bell, but things get a little more complicated.

Scammers may then direct victims to verify the transaction with the courier using a passcode, such as the serial number of a U.S. dollar bill. 

“Scammers tell victims they will safeguard the assets in a protected account on behalf of the victims. In reality, victims never hear back from the scammers and lose all their money,” the agency said.

And that’s a key point in this play, says Seth Ruden, director of Global Advisory at BioCatch. The last thing that a scammer wants a target to do is contact their bank or credit card company.

“This is to maintain the victim in the scammer’s communications pathway, rather than directly engage with a person who can recognize the scam and interfere,” Ruden said.

How to stop the bleeding 

Ruden maintains that the best recommendation here is for the account holder to find someone at their financial institution who they can depend on to be their go-to in the critical period of scam setup. 

“It’s always welcome for an individual to make an outbound call directly to the financial institution (found on the back of the payment card) to engage their bank or credit union, or to go to a local branch, where a trusted agent can assist in determining the legitimacy of the request.”

When investing in gold, always deal with a legitimate and reputable company. The ConsumerAffairs research team has reviewed 25 companies and selected the five best.