Kamal Ghorui
Two Indian jewelry stores, one in Irving and the other in Frisco, were simultaneously raided Thursday in connection with an alleged gold scam targeting senior citizens, and two persons were arrested, CBS News reported. These jewelry stores are believed to be only a part of an elaborate fraud that started with identifying senior citizens in Texas, sending them emails convincing them that that their names had been associated with criminal acts. These senior citizens were then threatened with arrest if they did not buy gold and hand those over to designated couriers. The authorities said these two Indian jewelry stores were buying the gold from some of these couriers and melting it to make bracelets and other items and selling them to unsuspecting customers or smuggling it outside the country. Everyone involved in the gold bar scam got their cut, the authorities said. The two tactical raids, conducted by Collin County Sheriff’s Office and federal authorities at Tilak Jewelers in Irving and Saima Jewelers in Frisco, ended with millions of dollars in cash and gold seized. “You call Collin County and you go to defraud our citizens, we’re going to come get you, that’s just the bottom line,” Collin County Sheriff Jim Skinner told CBS.
Year-long investigation before raids
The raids were a culmination of a year-long investigation into the gold bar scam going on. The sheriff’s office set up a task force last year, which started arresting the couriers from around the DFW (Dallas-Fort Worth) area after getting complaints from senior citizens. Arpit Desai, Simarjeet Gill, Satish Patel, Pranjal Patel, Radhakrishhna Yerramneni were some of the couriers arrested. “The suspects convinced victims were under federal investigation and instructed them to comply with specific instructions under strict secrecy for all the obvious reasons,” Skinner said. “The victims, they were directed to liquidate their assets or purchase large quantities of gold and precious metals.”CBS reported that more than $7 million was stolen from the retirement savings of around 200 Collin County victims, all over the age of 65. More than $55 million was stolen from victims across Texas.
