Fake FTC Agent Calls, Real Gold Bars: 10 Indicted in Florida Scheme Targeting Elderly Victims

Here is what happened

On November 5, 2026, United States Attorney John P. Heekin of the Northern District of Florida announced the indictment. Each defendant is charged with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and mail fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering.

The defendants are:

• Gurpinder Singh, 20, Yashdeep Singh, 20, Kuljeet Singh, 22, Navjeet Singh, 25, Akashdeep Singh, 25, Harshdeep Kaur, 24, and Manpreet Singh, 26, all of California
• Sierra Stites, 35, and Carissa Snow, 37, both of Deland, Florida
• Reese Lightner, 39, of Pennsylvania

All defendants have been arraigned in Gainesville, and trial is set for December 30, 2026. If convicted, each defendant faces up to 20 years in prison on each count.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), IRS Criminal Investigation, Homeland Security Investigations and the Gainesville Police Department investigated.

Charges are allegations; every defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in court.

The phone calls behind the gold

The details come from an FBI affidavit filed in October 2026 in support of a criminal complaint against Manpreet Singh. It is attached: FBI affidavit in support of the criminal complaint. Everything below is alleged.

In early May 2026, an elderly woman received an email pretending to be from Amazon. It said there was a problem with her Campus USA bank account and gave her a phone number to call. When she called, a man calling himself "John Harris" from Campus USA told her that her identity had been stolen and her Social Security Number was compromised.

Harris sent her to an "Agent" from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) named "Michael Chappell." She called him. Chappell said her Social Security Number had been used for drug deals and other crimes, and that clearing her name required payments to the U.S. Government.

How the payments worked:

• Chappell learned she had a little over $100,000 in checking and told her to buy gold bars with it.
• She bought 21 gold bars worth $101,220 from a Gainesville gold dealer.
• She boxed the gold with her name, address and an "FTC ID Number," photographed it and sent the photo to Chappell.
• Chappell called to move the handoff to a Sunoco gas station. While on the phone with him, she drove there and texted him a photo of herself and her car.
• A masked man in a grey Volvo gave her the code word "butterfly," took the box and drove away.

A few days later, Chappell informed her more money was required. She told him she had close to $500,000 in an investment account, almost all of her remaining life savings. He told her to move it, buy more gold and tell no one.

How the FBI stepped in

Before she moved the money, a concerned citizen who knew about the first purchase contacted the FBI. Agents told her she was being defrauded, and she agreed to help.

At the FBI's direction, she told Chappell she had bought $497,229 in gold, 107 one-ounce bars. Chappell scheduled another pickup for June 1, 2026. That day the FBI arrested Gurpinder Singh, the man who allegedly came for the gold.

According to the affidavit, Gurpinder told investigators that friends recruited him and paid for his flight from California. In Florida, a man known only as "Tom," who he believed was in India, directed him by WhatsApp call. He was to bring the gold to New York for $5,000. The FBI says it found evidence that he was part of a cell of U.S. and India based co-conspirators who used their phones to run the scheme repeatedly, along with a related scheme in which victims mailed packages of cash.

Why it matters

The pattern is familiar. A phone number, a caller posing as a bank or agency, fear, a deadline, and a payment that is hard to trace. The FTC does not call consumers to demand gold or a "new" Social Security Number.

What this means for you

1. If an email gives you a number to call about your bank, ignore it. Call the number on the back of your card.
2. No real federal agent will ask you to buy gold, box it up or meet a courier at a gas station.
3. If an older relative suddenly buys gold or drains savings, ask questions.

Report impersonation calls to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. The press release is also attached: U.S. Attorney's Office release on the gold bar indictment.

Source: U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Florida, Homeland Security Task Force Investigation Leads to Multi-Defendant Indictment for Gold Bar Scheme to Defraud Elderly Victims (Nov. 5, 2026); affidavit in United States v. Manpreet Singh, No. 1:26-mj-00091 (N.D. Fla.).