When a Scammer Sends Someone to Your Door: The Courier and Gold Bar Scam

The Federal Trade Commission has tracked a sharp rise in a scam that ends in a way most people would never expect: a courier arrives at the victim's home to collect cash, gold bars, or gold coins in person. Between 2020 and 2024, the number of older adults reporting losses of $10,000 or more grew more than fourfold, and this pattern is a large part of why.

It rarely starts with a request for gold. It usually starts with a pop-up warning on a computer, a text about a suspicious charge, or a call from someone claiming to be from a bank, a well-known technology company, or a federal agency. The caller says your accounts have been compromised — sometimes that your identity was used in a crime — and that your money is not safe where it is.

Then comes the instruction that defines this scam: to "protect" your savings, you must move it somewhere else. Withdraw the cash. Buy gold and hold it for the government. Deposit it into a Bitcoin ATM. A courier will come by to take custody of it for safekeeping, and you will be given a receipt or a code word so you know they are legitimate.

No part of that is real. No government agency, bank, or company will ever ask you to withdraw money, buy gold or cryptocurrency, or hand valuables to a courier. There is no federal program that safeguards citizens' savings this way. The code word and the receipt exist only to make the handoff feel official.

Because these scams often run for days or weeks, the victim is usually told to keep it secret — that the investigation is confidential, or that a bank employee may be involved. If anyone tells you not to discuss a money matter with your family or your own bank teller, that instruction is itself the strongest evidence you are being scammed.

(Sources: Federal Trade Commission data spotlight on scams targeting older adults — ftc.gov; FTC consumer advice — consumer.ftc.gov)