Owings Mills Man Arrested in Connection with Gold Bar Scams

For Immediate Release: Thursday, July 25, 2024

Gaithersburg, MD – A 52-year-old Owings Mills man has been arrested in connection with government-imposter related gold bar scams.

On Wednesday, July 17, 2024, a 74-year-old Bethesda man contacted the Montgomery County Department of Police Financial Crimes Section to report that he believed he had been scammed after seeing a local news report of a woman losing nearly $1 million dollars in a gold bar scam.

The victim stated that he received an email stating that a suspicious deposit had been made into the victim’s bank account and an unknown suspect instructed the victim to convert his money into gold to protect his assets.

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On ten separate occasions between March and June of 2024, the victim purchased a total of over $1.1 million dollars in gold bars and arranged to have the gold picked up by the suspect’s associates.

After making a final purchase of over $240,000 dollars in gold bars, the victim saw the news report and contacted police.

On Wednesday, July 24, a Montgomery County detective communicated with the suspect and arranged a pick-up at the victim’s home. A detective posing as the victim, handed a package to Vipul J. Thakkar, who then got into a car and drove away. Officers stopped Thakkar, and he was arrested.

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Thakkar was transported to the Montgomery County Central Processing Unit and charged with multiple counts of attempted theft.

He is being held without bond.

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