Wisconsin couple loses more than $500,000 in gold coin scam

Wisconsin couple loses more than $500,000 in gold coin scam, sees TV story and calls police

FOR YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD. A SCAM SWEEPING THE COUNTRY IS DRAINING THE BANK ACCOUNTS OF DOZENS OF PEOPLE IN WISCONSIN. 12 NEWS INVESTIGATES FOUND MORE THAN 50 PEOPLE LOST MONEY REACHING INTO THE MILLIONS. ONE COUPLE WAS OUT, MORE THAN HALF A MILLION IN GOLD COINS. THEY ALMOST LOST EVEN MORE UNTIL THEY SAW A STORY BY INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER JAMES STRATTON. ON THE OTHER SIDE OF A POP UP AD SITS A SCAMMER WAITING TO DRAIN YOUR BANK ACCOUNT. ONCE THE TARGET CALLS THE NUMBER ON THEIR SCREEN, A SOPHISTICATED SCAM ENSUES. THE LATEST CASE STARTED THE SAME WAY A CRIMINAL COMPLAINT SAYS A NEW BERLIN COUPLE CALLED THE NUMBER. THINKING THEY HAD A VIRUS. THE PERSON WHO ANSWERED CLAIMED TO BE A MAN NAMED SCOTT BESSON. THE U.S. TREASURY SECRETARY. THE CON MAN TOLD THE PAIR THEY WERE VICTIMS OF A MASSIVE SCHEME, AND THEY NEEDED TO CONVERT THEIR CASH TO GOLD TO PROTECT THEIR ASSETS. PROSECUTORS SAY THEY GAVE AWAY MORE THAN A HALF MILLION BUCKS BY CONVERTING IT TO GOLD COINS, HANDING IT OFF TO A COURIER THREE DIFFERENT TIMES IN THREE WEEKS. THE MEN TOLD THE COUPLE THEY WERE UNDER CONSTANT SURVEILLANCE. THEY WERE ABOUT TO GIVE UP MORE THAN 185 GRAND IN GOLD COINS. IN A FOURTH ENCOUNTER, WHEN THEY SAW A TV NEWS STORY. JULY 29TH AS INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER JAMES STRATTON REPORTS TONIGHT, AUTHORITIES SAY THEY STOLE MILLIONS OF DOLLARS RIGHT HERE IN WISCONSIN THAT MORNING. 12 NEWS INVESTIGATES REPORTED EXCLUSIVELY ON A GOLD SCAM HITTING OTHER WISCONSIN VICTIMS. THE COUPLE REALIZED THEY HAD BEEN SCAMMED AND THEN CAME TO THE POLICE DEPARTMENT. NEW BERLIN POLICE SET UP A STING, GOING TO PICK UP THE GOLD COINS INSTEAD, FILLING THE BOX WITH ROCKS AND WAITING WITH THE VICTIM. WHILE POLICE SAY THIS MAN ROSHAN SHAH PICKED THEM UP. PROSECUTORS SAY SHAH PARKED IN THIS PARKING SPACE HERE AT THE SPEEDWAY GAS STATION ON 124TH AND OKLAHOMA, OPENING THAT PACKAGE, REALIZING THERE WERE ROCKS INSIDE AND NOT GOLD. AND THAT’S WHEN POLICE SWOOPED IN FOR THE ARREST. A COMPLAINT STATES HE TOLD POLICE HE WAS TAKING ORDERS FROM A PERSON NAMED MONTU, THE COMPLAINT SAYS. SHAH IS ORIGINALLY FROM INDIA BUT GOES TO COLLEGE IN CANADA. HE TOLD POLICE HE GETS PAID 2 TO 4 GRAND FOR THE PICKUP AND HAS DONE IT 10 OR 11 TIMES IN EIGHT STATES. POLICE SAY HE TOLD THEM HE KNOWS HE’S PART OF A BIGGER OPERATION, BUT HAS NO IDEA AT THE TOP END OF HOW THE SCAM WORKS. POLICE ARRESTING AT LEAST ONE PERSON SAVING A COUPLE, AT LEAST SOME OF THEIR MONEY. JAMES STRATTON, WISN 12 NEWS. AND A 12 NEWS TALLY SHOWS THE SCAM VICTIMIZED 52 PEOPLE TOGETHER. THEY ALL LOST MORE THAN $15 MILLION. JAMES HAS BEEN TALKING TO VICTIMS, POLICE AND FBI OFFICIALS DETAILING THIS SCAM SINCE NOVEMBER. YOU CAN WATCH ALL OF H

Updated: 6:49 PM CDT Aug 9, 2025

Editorial Standards ⓘ

Wisconsin couple loses more than $500,000 in gold coin scam, sees TV story and calls police

Updated: 6:49 PM CDT Aug 9, 2025

Editorial Standards ⓘ

A scam sweeping the country has drained the bank accounts of more than 50 people in Wisconsin, with one couple losing over $500,000 in gold coins before police intervened. Here's how it works: on the other side of a pop-up ad sits a scammer waiting to drain your bank account. Once the victim calls the number on their screen, a sophisticated scam ensues. The latest case started the same way. A criminal complaint says the couple called the number, thinking they had a virus. The person who answered claimed to be a man named "Scott Bessent," the U.S. Treasury Secretary. Another man claimed to be David Freeman, identifying himself as a special agent with the Treasury Department, the complaint states. A criminal complaint says the man told the pair they were victims of a "massive scheme" and they needed to convert their cash to gold to protect their assets.Video below: Top 3 Scams Targeting College Students (Don’t Fall for These!)Prosecutors said they gave away $526,095.40 by converting it to gold coins, handing it off to a courier three different times in three weeks. The men told the couple they were under "constant surveillance." They were about to give up $185,977 in gold coins in a fourth encounter when they saw a TV news story on July 29.That morning, Hearst sister station WISN reported exclusively on a gold bar scam hitting other Wisconsin victims. The couple "realized they had been scammed and then came to the police department," the complaint states. New Berlin, Wisconsin, police set up a sting, going to pick up the gold coins, instead filling the box with rocks, and waiting with the victim while police said Roshan Shah picked them up.Prosecutors say Shah parked at the Speedway gas station near 124th Street and Oklahoma Avenue in West Allis, Wisconsin, and police swooped in and arrested him.The complaint states he told police he was taking orders from a person named "Montu" who instructed him where to go to pick up gold bars. Shah, according to the complaint, is originally form India but is going to college in Canada. The complaint states he told police he gets paid $2,000 to $4,000 for the pickup and has done it "10 or 11 times" in eight states. Police said he told them he knows he's part of a bigger operation, "but has no idea at the top end of how the scam works," the complaint says.

A scam sweeping the country has drained the bank accounts of more than 50 people in Wisconsin, with one couple losing over $500,000 in gold coins before police intervened.

Here's how it works: on the other side of a pop-up ad sits a scammer waiting to drain your bank account. Once the victim calls the number on their screen, a sophisticated scam ensues. The latest case started the same way.

A criminal complaint says the couple called the number, thinking they had a virus. The person who answered claimed to be a man named "Scott Bessent," the U.S. Treasury Secretary. Another man claimed to be David Freeman, identifying himself as a special agent with the Treasury Department, the complaint states. A criminal complaint says the man told the pair they were victims of a "massive scheme" and they needed to convert their cash to gold to protect their assets.

Video below: Top 3 Scams Targeting College Students (Don’t Fall for These!)

Prosecutors said they gave away $526,095.40 by converting it to gold coins, handing it off to a courier three different times in three weeks. The men told the couple they were under "constant surveillance." They were about to give up $185,977 in gold coins in a fourth encounter when they saw a TV news story on July 29.

That morning,

The couple "realized they had been scammed and then came to the police department," the complaint states. New Berlin, Wisconsin, police set up a sting, going to pick up the gold coins, instead filling the box with rocks, and waiting with the victim while police said Roshan Shah picked them up.

Prosecutors say Shah parked at the Speedway gas station near 124th Street and Oklahoma Avenue in West Allis, Wisconsin, and police swooped in and arrested him.

The complaint states he told police he was taking orders from a person named "Montu" who instructed him where to go to pick up gold bars. Shah, according to the complaint, is originally form India but is going to college in Canada.

The complaint states he told police he gets paid $2,000 to $4,000 for the pickup and has done it "10 or 11 times" in eight states. Police said he told them he knows he's part of a bigger operation, "but has no idea at the top end of how the scam works," the complaint says.

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