A Rockville, Maryland, man was sentenced to five years in prison for attempting to swindle an elderly Silver Spring resident out of nearly a quarter-million dollars in gold in an identity theft scam.
Ravinklejeet Mathon, 26, took part in a scheme to steal three 1-kilogram gold bars, totaling $229,848, from the 94-year-old resident, as part of a targeted phone scam.
Mathon was sentenced by the Circuit Court of Montgomery County to five years in prison and five years of probation.
According to court documents, the scam involved tricking the resident into believing that his identity was stolen and his savings were in danger.
The resident was told he needed to purchase gold bars with his money and to turn the bars over to a federal agent for safekeeping. The scammers would then pick up the gold bars from the 94-year-old man’s home.
Montgomery County police intercepted the scheme, and arrested Mathon on Briggs Chaney Road in Silver Spring after he picked up the bars from a detective posing as the victim on May 1.
“The gold bar scams are unique due to the level of international, organized crime involved,” Montgomery County State’s Attorney John McCarthy said.
The state’s attorney’s office has warned county residents about the scheme, which has targeted residents in recent months. In October, a California man pleaded guilty to scamming a Silver Spring woman out of nearly $800,000 in a similar scheme.
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