[The scammer] first contacted the 64-year-old woman in February and claimed to be “Mark Cooper”, an agent with “the office of the inspector general, Federal Trade Commission”, according to court documents, the Washington Post reported.
[The scammer] told the woman that her identity had been stolen and used by dangerous identity thieves in a money- and drug-laundering scheme.
He claimed that he could help the woman obtain a new social security number and protect her assets – but only if she converted them to gold bars and turned them over.
The victim then contacted the police, who ran a sting of their own and and caught the scammer.