Yug B Chauhan (left) was the courier tasked with collecting $700,000 in gold from an old woman. An alert shop owner (right) notified the police and filled the bag with gold chocolate coins.
A 79-year-old widow in Michigan received a surprise phone call informing her that her Social Security funds were being misused to support terrorism, and to stop it, she was told to buy $700,000 in gold and give it to someone they would send.
An ancient script for polishing one’s savings But here entered Ben Soldat, a Grand Rapids coin owner, from whom the widow wanted to buy gold. Soldat knew it was a scam and informed the authorities. When the man who was supposed to rescue the woman from the “terrorist scam” arrived to collect the money, he was given a bag of gold chocolate coins and eventually a pair of 20-year felonies.The incident happened in May, and according to reports, the young man is 20-year-old Yog P Chauhan, who lives in Illinois.
Chauhan is being held in the Kent County Jail on $100,000 bail and ICE custody.The widow told police that the man who called her had a very good voice and somehow convinced her that her money was being used to fund terrorists. “It is truly devastating to realize how easily I could be scammed by these scammers,” she said.
The alert store owner says he saw red flags
Soldat, who has run his store since 2000, said he saw the red flags, even though the widow did not tell him why she needed so many gold coins.
The woman said she wanted to buy gold as an investment for her children but showed little interest in the product, Soldat said. The woman appeared confused and was also rushing to get the gold, Soldat said. The woman sent the money to Soldat but Soldat dragged his feet and saw the woman getting worried about the delay.
“I felt like she was really being pushed to get a large amount of gold quickly, and not for the reason I initially stated,” Soldat said.
“Someone was pushing her in a direction she didn’t want to go.”Soldat said he called the police just to be safe. After Soldat told the police about the woman, the police went to her house. The woman told them that a Social Security agent called her. She also narrated what he said. Even while investigators were at her home, a caller who identified himself as Eric called the woman and asked if she had gotten the gold.The cops decided to send an undercover agent to the courier. The customer was dressed as an old woman and took a bag of golden chocolates for delivery and Yug was arrested.Yog said he was instructed by someone named “Bhosh” to ask an Uber driver to take him from a gas station to a donut shop to pick up the mail. He said he had never met the man who gave him instructions, and that they mainly spoke in Hindi during their calls and mostly communicated via WhatsApp.