The money had already left a retirement account and reached a coin dealer in Centereach, Long Island. All that remained was for a 69-year-old man from Hauppauge to take delivery of about $466,000 (£344,000) in gold bars and pass them to the people he believed were federal agents. Suffolk County detectives reached the counter first.
The man did not report the scam. A fraud investigator at his bank did, after growing concerned about the size of the withdrawal and where the money was going, according to police. That call went to the Suffolk County Police Department's Financial Crimes Unit.
