A 79-year-old widow in Michigan suddenly received a call informing her that her Social Security funds were being misused to support terrorism, and to stop this, she was asked to buy $700,000 of gold and give it to the person they would send. An old script for polishing off one’s savings, but here comes Ben Soldat, owner of Grand Rapids Coins, from whom the widow wanted to buy the gold. Soldat knew it was a scam and alerted the authorities. When the man who was supposed to save the woman from a ‘terrorism scam’ arrived to collect the money, he found a bag of chocolate gold coins and ultimately a pair of 20-year-old felons.The incident took place in May and according to reports, the youth is 20-year-old Yug B Chauhan, whose address is Illinois. Chauhan is being held in the Kent County Jail with a $100,000 bond and a hold from ICE.The widow told the police that the man who called her had a very nice voice and somehow convinced her that her money was being used to fund terrorists. “It’s really sad to realize how easily I was fooled by these fraudsters,” he said.
Vigilant store owner says he saw red flags
Soldat, who has run his store since 2000, said he saw red flags, although the widow did not tell him why she needed so many gold coins. Soldat said the woman said she wanted to buy gold as an investment for her children but showed little interest in the product. Soldat said the woman seemed confused and was also running to get the gold. The woman sent money to Soldat but Soldat dragged his feet and noticed that the woman was upset because of the delay. Soldat said, “I had the feeling that he was really being motivated to bring in a sufficient amount of gold quickly, and not for the reason he initially stated.” “Someone was pushing her in a direction she didn’t want to go.”Soldat said he contacted police to be safe. Soldat told the police about the woman, after which the police went to her house. The woman told them that a Social Security agent had contacted her. He also narrated whatever he said. Even while detectives were at her home, the caller identified himself as Eric and called the woman and asked if she had found the gold.The police decided to send a secret agent on courier. The agent dresses like an old woman and takes a bag of gold chocolates for delivery and Yug is arrested.Yug said he was instructed by a man named ‘Bhavash’ to have an Uber driver take him from a gas station to a donut shop to pick up a courier. He said he has never met the person who gave him the instructions and that they speak mainly in Hindi during calls and communicate mostly through WhatsApp.