An Owings Mills, Maryland, man pleaded guilty to theft and multiple charges Wednesday after scamming a Montgomery County man into converting more than $1 million into gold bars and handing them over to fraudsters.
Vipul Thakkar, 53, admitted in Montgomery County Circuit Court to targeting elderly people, convincing them to convert money in their bank accounts into gold and arranging pickup to “protect their assets.”
According to charging documents, the scam began in March 2024 when a 74-year-old man from Bethesda received a letter stating a suspicious deposit had been made into his bank account. The letter instructed the man to convert his money into gold at a local coin store.
On 10 separate occasions, between March and June, the man converted over $1.1 million into gold bars and arranged to have them picked up by different associates of the suspect, police said.
When the man made a purchase of more than $240,000 in gold bars, he saw a local news report about an 82-year-old Montgomery County woman who had been scammed out of $900,000 in a similar scheme. He then contacted Montgomery County Police Department’s Financial Crimes Section.
In July, a Montgomery County detective communicated with the suspect, later identified as Thakkar, and arranged a pickup at the Bethesda man’s home. A detective posed as the victim, handed a package to Thakkar, who got into a car and drove away. Officers stopped the car and arrested Thakkar.
Following his arrest, Thakkar admitted being part of the scam after being set up by a friend from India. Thakkar told police he would make “package pickups” of gold or cash from elderly victims and received a percentage of its value back for completing the job. He was set to make $400 for the final pickup, Thakkar told police.
He also admitted picking up $40,000 in cash from an 80-year-old woman in a shopping center parking lot in Silver Spring in a separate incident July 16, 2024.
He pleaded guilty to theft of over $25,000 and under $100,000 and conspiracy to commit theft, among other charges. He faces up to 60 years in prison.
Thakkar is scheduled for sentencing April 29.
The incident was a part of a thread of scams that targeted seniors in Montgomery County in 2024, causing several people to lose millions of dollars.
WTOP staff contributed to this report.
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