Crime

Scammers allegedly had a Newton woman deliver over $400,000 in gold bars. One is now charged.

The 72-year-old woman "liquidated hundreds of thousands of dollars from her retirement account to purchase" 15 gold bars.

Gold bars are shown stacked in a vault at the United States Mint on July 22, 2014, in West Point, N.Y. Mike Groll / AP, File

By Emilia Wisniewski

March 26, 2025

2 minutes to read

A New York man has been arraigned in court after allegedly defrauding a 72-year-old Newton woman out of more than $480,000, officials said Tuesday.

Vishal Kumar, 23, of Queens, is charged with extortion, larceny over $250 from a person over 60, and conspiracy, according to a statement from the Middlesex County District Attorney’s Office.

At or around Dec. 4, the woman received a call from people claiming to be agents from the Drug Enforcement Agency, according to the statement. They reportedly told her someone had opened 22 accounts in her name, and that she was responsible for $2 million in those accounts, which was being used in illegal drug transactions.

The woman told the callers that she had not opened those accounts, and the supposed agents told her that, to stop any identity theft, she would have to transfer her assets to the United States Treasury, according to the statement. The callers allegedly told her if she did not cooperate, the FBI would arrest her.

The woman received another call from a person claiming to be a case manager with the U.S. Treasury, authorities said. They reportedly told her to transfer her assets in the form of gold bars, which would prompt a Social Security Number change and her money to be returned.

The woman bought gold bars using money from her retirement account in fear of being arrested and delivered the bars to couriers on two occasions, according to the statement.

She delivered 12 bars of gold worth approximately $342,000 on Dec. 17 and three bars of gold worth approximately $89,000 on Dec. 24, according to the statement. She also wired $49,755 on Dec. 26 to a bank account the scammers advised her to send it to, authorities said.

The woman’s family learned of the scheme and reported it to law enforcement, who conducted a sting operation, according to the statement. An undercover officer acted as the woman, who was meant to deliver another package of gold worth $165,000 to Kumar. After confirming a code-word given to the woman from the scammers and taking the package, Kumar was arrested by Newton police and agents from the FBI.

“These scams thrive in secrecy,” Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan said in the statement. “Fortunately, in this case, the victim and her family were able to enlist the help of law enforcement within a fairly short period of time which put a stop to this exploitation but not before the victim suffered a staggering loss of nearly half a million dollars.”

Kumar was indicted on Feb. 26 by a Middlesex County Grand Jury and, at his arraignment, was ordered held instead of a $500,000 bail, according to the statement.