PRINCE FREDERICK — If someone claiming to be from the government, your bank or a tech-support desk tells you to turn your savings into gold or cash and hand it to a courier for safekeeping, hang up. That is the message from the Calvert County State’s Attorney’s Office, which issued a public warning Monday after two recent cases in which scammers allegedly targeted county residents in their late 60s and 90s.
In one case, a 47-year-old Columbia man, Jatin Talwar, was found guilty in Calvert County Circuit Court of attempting to steal more than $160,000 from a 69-year-old Dunkirk resident, according to the Oct. 26 release from State’s Attorney Robert H. Harvey Jr. Talwar is scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 9.
In the second, a 50-year-old Ellicott City man was recently charged in Calvert County with attempting to steal about $300,000 from a 90-year-old Solomons resident, the office said. The release did not name him. That case is a charge, not a conviction, and he is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.
“Calvert County is not immune to these types of scams,” the release says.
How the scheme works
The pattern prosecutors describe is slow and deliberate. Scammers pose as government officials, police officers, tech-support workers or bank employees. They make first contact through unsolicited phone calls, emails or fake internet links that list a phone number promising “help” with a problem, such as a supposedly hacked computer or a compromised bank account.
Over weeks or even months, the callers build trust and fear in equal measure, the office said. Eventually they persuade victims to convert their assets into precious metals or cash, then send a courier to pick it up for deposit in what they call a secure government account. No such account exists. Once the courier drives away, the money is usually gone.
The office stressed three rules:
- Never meet anyone to hand over cash or precious metals.
- U.S. government agencies and banks will never ask you to wire money, send cryptocurrency, deliver gold or cash, or buy gift cards to fix a problem with your accounts, finances or devices.
- No legitimate agency or bank will tell you to keep a secret from your family.
That last point matters because isolation is the scammer’s main tool. Callers routinely warn victims that relatives or bank tellers are part of the problem, so the victim stops asking the people most likely to recognize the con.
A national problem with local victims
The Calvert cases fit a pattern the FBI has been tracking. Nationwide, the bureau counted at least 1,737 incidents from January 2023 through May 2025 in which a courier collected cash or gold bars from a victim, with losses of about $186 million, according to a September 2025 FBI Boston warning. In that division’s four-state region, about 98% of reported losses came from people over 60.
Maryland has seen similar cases outside Calvert. Fox 5 reported an arrest in a gold bar scheme that took about $2.3 million from older women in the state.
The amounts at stake in Calvert are large for any household. The $160,000 sought from the Dunkirk victim is more than many retirees hold in savings, and the roughly $300,000 alleged in the Solomons case approaches the value of a modest home. The release did not say how either attempt was interrupted or whether any money changed hands.
What to do if you get the call
The scams are built to create fear and urgency that override good judgment, the State’s Attorney’s Office said. Anyone who has been contacted under suspicious circumstances, or who suspects a relative is being worked by a scammer, should call the Calvert County Sheriff’s Office right away. The non-emergency number is 410-535-2800; call 911 if a courier is on the way.
The FBI also asks victims and attempted victims to file a report at the Internet Crime Complaint Center, including the caller’s name, phone numbers, any bank account or recipient names, and details of any gold dealer involved. People 60 and older who need help can call the U.S. Justice Department’s National Elder Fraud Hotline at 833-372-8311.
Families can help by talking with older relatives now, before a call comes. A simple household rule, such as never moving money without talking to a son, daughter or trusted friend first, can break the isolation these schemes depend on.
Talwar’s sentencing is set for Nov. 9 in Calvert County Circuit Court. The Chronicle will report the outcome.
