The Courier and Gold Bar Scam
A fast-growing scam ends with a stranger collecting cash or gold from your home. Here is how it starts and how to stop it early.
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.
Step 1: Treat any "move your money to keep it safe" instruction as a scam
No real bank, police department, or federal agency will ever tell you to withdraw cash, buy gold, or use a Bitcoin ATM to protect your savings. There is no such program. This one rule stops the scam before any money moves.
Warning
This applies even if the caller knows your name, your bank, or the last four digits of an account number. That information is often bought or guessed.
Step 2: Never hand cash or valuables to anyone who comes to your home
Legitimate institutions do not send couriers, rideshare drivers, or "agents" to collect money or gold from private homes. If someone is scheduled to arrive, do not open the door, and call your local police non-emergency line.
Step 3: Ignore secrecy instructions and tell someone
Scammers insist the matter is confidential so no one can interrupt them. Tell a family member, a friend, or your bank branch what you have been asked to do. Bank tellers are trained to recognize this pattern and have stopped many of these losses at the counter.
Quick Tip
If a caller becomes angry or threatening when you say you want to talk to family first, that reaction confirms the scam.
Step 4: Close the pop-up without calling the number on it
If a full-screen warning claims your computer is infected and gives a support number, do not call it. Close the browser, or hold the power button until the machine shuts off, then restart. A real virus warning never asks you to phone anyone.
Step 5: Verify through a number you find yourself
If you are worried the warning might be real, look up your bank's phone number on the back of your debit card or on a past statement, and call that. Do not use any number that appeared on the screen or that a caller gave you.
Step 6: Act quickly if money has already gone out
Call your bank right away and ask them to try to recall the transfer. Report the loss at ReportFraud.ftc.gov and to local police, and file with the FBI at ic3.gov. Some transfers can be stopped within a short window, so speed matters more than embarrassment.
More about this
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)
Official sources
- Federal Trade Commission — Consumer Advice
- FTC Consumer Advice — consumer.ftc.gov
- IdentityTheft.gov — identitytheft.gov
- CISA — Stop.Think.Connect. — cisa.gov
- Have I Been Pwned — haveibeenpwned.com
- Watch a video walkthrough
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