MARTIN COUNTY, Fla. — A Martin County sheriff’s deputy helped a 93-year-old man recover his life savings after he was scammed out of $600,000 in a gold bar scheme.
Deputy Jasmaine McKinney, who has been with the Martin County Sheriff’s Office for about four years, received a call about the fraud case last month.
“You can definitely tell he felt like a victim. You can tell it was just written all over him,” McKinney said.
McKinney said the 93-year-old was told by scammers that they were with the Federal Trade Commission and that his bank account had been compromised.
They told him that, to secure his funds, he needed to withdraw the money and purchase $600,000 worth of gold.
The victim, who declined an interview, contacted a legitimate business to purchase the gold and wrote the company a $600,000 check.
The plan was to have the gold delivered to his home, where the scammers would pick it up.
But the victim became suspicious and went to his bank. The bank then contacted the sheriff’s office.
“That was all his life savings. Like, that’s what he had,” McKinney said.
McKinney responded and got the gold company on the phone. She explained that the 93-year-old had been scammed and needed a refund.
“Let’s get it done, because, again, this guy is out of a lot of money and he’s not a millionaire or anything like that. He’s just a regular guy,” McKinney said.
A few weeks later, the entire $600,000 was returned to the victim’s account.
McKinney said she called to make sure the money was actually back in his account.
“He said, no, it’s back in there. I seen it. I say, you know what? I’m happy for you. I just kept saying that. I’m happy for you. I’m happy for you,” McKinney said.
The victim told her he was happy the sheriff’s office got involved.
The Martin County Sheriff’s Office says deputies were responding to another call at a local bank when they stopped an elderly man from falling victim to another gold bar scam, saving him $98,000.
The sheriff’s office is reminding people never to give out personal information over the phone and to call police directly if they believe they may be getting scammed.
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