Elderly Scammed

⏱ 2 min read

Three individuals, Raj Chauhan, 33, Monarch Sachdev, 28, and Elon Harper, 27, have been accused of stealing $8 million from elderly victims in a gold bar scam. The scam, which targeted elderly residents in various locations, including Missouri, involved co-conspirators contacting victims via telephone calls and electronic messages, claiming that their financial accounts had been compromised. The victims were then instructed to liquidate their savings and retirement funds, purchase gold bars and coins, and hand them over to “government” couriers. The scam occurred over a period of time, with the defendants being arrested in February 2026, outside of Missouri.

The indictment, which was filed on February 4, 2026, alleges that Chauhan, Sachdev, and Harper were the couriers who picked up the gold from the victims. Sachdev also managed the pickups of other couriers, including his co-defendants. In one example, Sachdev instructed Chauhan to pick up gold from an elderly resident of Cedar Hill, Missouri, who had been told that she had erroneously been sent money via PayPal and would have to pay income taxes unless she bought $200,000 in gold.

The defendants were arrested in different locations, with Harper being arrested in Maine, Sachdev in Texas, and Chauhan in northern Illinois. Detention motions reveal that Sachdev was personally responsible for retrieving fraud proceeds on at least 65 different occasions, resulting in losses of at least $5.4 million. Harper was responsible for at least 20 pickups, resulting in significant financial losses for the victims.

The gold bar scam is a disturbing example of the lengths to which scammers will go to target vulnerable individuals, particularly the elderly. The fact that the defendants were able to steal $8 million from their victims is a stark reminder of the need for vigilance and awareness when it comes to financial transactions and interactions with unknown individuals.