Gold Bar Courier Scams: How the Script Works

Updated October 23, 2026Facts checked against sources on October 23, 2026

The short answer

In a gold bar courier scam, a caller posing as a bank, tech-support or government worker says your money is at risk and tells you to turn it into gold or cash. A courier then collects it. The FBI says the U.S. government and legitimate businesses will never ask you to buy gold or other precious metals, and the FTC says no one from the government will tell you to buy and deliver gold bars.

Gold bar courier scams are a type of fraud in which the scammer talks you into buying gold or silver yourself, or pulling out cash, and handing it to a stranger. This page explains the steps of the script as described by the FBI, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Oregon Department of Justice. It is about fraud, not about legitimate gold dealers or gold IRAs.

What is a gold bar courier scam?

The FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) describes it this way in a January 2024 public service announcement: scammers pose as tech support or U.S. government officials, tell victims to liquidate their assets into cash or buy gold, silver or other precious metals, and then send couriers to collect the items at victims' homes or public places.

The FTC's July 2025 consumer alert gives the same warning. It says scammers claim a bank account or computer was hacked, or that your name and Social Security number are tied to crimes. It states: "no one from the government will ever tell you to buy and deliver gold bars."

How does the script work, step by step?

The agencies describe slightly different versions, but the steps are very similar. The table puts them side by side.

Step	What the scammer does	What it feels like to the victim
1. Contact	Calls, texts or emails, or shows a fake computer alert. Poses as tech support, a bank, or a government or law enforcement agency.	An official-sounding warning out of the blue.
2. Alarm	Says accounts are hacked, frozen or under investigation, or that the victim's identity is tied to a crime.	Fear and a sense of urgency.
3. "Protection"	Tells the victim to withdraw money and turn it into gold, silver or cash to keep it "safe."	A reason that sounds logical in the moment.
4. Hand-off	Sends a courier to the victim's home or another place. The victim may be given a code or password to "prove" the courier is real.	A sense that the process is official.
5. Silence	Stops answering.	The metal or cash is gone.

Sources for the table: the FBI IC3 announcement, the FTC alert, and the two Oregon Department of Justice releases linked in the sections below.

The IC3 notice adds that scammers sometimes switch roles during one scheme, posing first as a tech company, then as a financial institution, then as a government official. Its words on the ending are blunt: victims "never hear back from the scammers and lose all their money."

Why gold?

None of the sources we read give a single reason. What they do say is that gold is something a scammer can ask a person to buy and hand over. We will not guess beyond that.

What do real cases look like?

The Oregon Department of Justice (ODOJ) described two cases in the summer of 2025.

In a July 18, 2025 release, ODOJ said an Eastern Oregon woman lost $600,000, nearly her entire life savings. A further $300,000 loss was prevented after her sister called the ODOJ Consumer Hotline and local law enforcement stepped in.
In an August 1, 2025 release, ODOJ described another Oregonian who lost tens of thousands of dollars. The release also mentions a separate $60,000 case involving silver bars.

ODOJ describes the general pattern in both releases: contact from someone posing as a government agency, financial institution or tech company, a claim that money is at risk, an instruction to convert it to gold, and a courier who collects it and disappears. We have not tried to say which details apply to each individual victim.

How common is it?

We could not find a single official national count that we were able to open. A September 2025 news report on a warning from the FBI Boston Division says that from 2023 to May 2025 the FBI had at least 1,737 courier cases nationwide with losses of about $186 million. It also says the Boston Division alone had 103 cases with losses of about $26 million, with about 98% of those losses reported by people over 60. The same report says real losses are likely higher, because some victims feel ashamed, do not know where to report, or do not realize they were scammed.

These figures come from a news article, not from the FBI page itself, which we could not open. Treat them as approximate.

For wider fraud data on older adults, see our summary of the FTC's 2025-26 older consumers report.

What are the warning signs?

Based on the agencies' descriptions, these are red flags no matter who the caller claims to be:

You are told to buy gold, silver or other precious metals to "protect" money.
You are told to hand cash or metal to someone who comes to your home or meets you somewhere.
A stranger gives you a code, password or serial number to confirm a courier.
You are told not to talk to your bank, family or the police.
You are pushed to act right now, or told that an account is frozen or under investigation.
You are asked to install software or let someone control your computer.

The last point comes from the FBI, which advises: do not install software at the request of unknown contacts and do not let them access your computer. The FBI also says not to call unknown numbers shown in pop-ups, texts or emails. The "told not to talk to others" item is our general reading of the pressure tactics; the sources do not list it word for word. The FTC's advice to "tell someone you trust" points the other way.

What should you do if this happens to you?

The FTC's steps are short: stop, hang up, delete the message, block the number, tell someone you trust, and report it at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. ODOJ adds: contact local police, and verify any claim by contacting your bank or the agency through official contact information.

The FBI also advises:

Never share your home address or meet unknown people to hand over cash or metals.
Report to the FBI at ic3.gov as soon as possible. Include the contact's name, how they reached you, bank account details and any metal dealer information.
If you are 60 or older and need help filing a complaint, call the Department of Justice Elder Justice Hotline at 1-833-FRAUD-11 (833-372-8311).

Our guide to reporting precious metals fraud lists more places to report.

How is this different from a gold IRA or a real dealer?

A real purchase of gold or silver, through a dealer or inside an IRA, is something you choose, on your own schedule. Nobody legitimate sends a courier to collect it from you on the spot because your money is "in danger." The FBI says: "The US Government and legitimate businesses will never request you purchase gold or other precious metals."

If you want to check that a dealer is real, see how to verify a precious metals dealer. For the pressure tactics sellers sometimes use, read the Gold IRA scam warning signs. This page is general education and not personal advice. If you are unsure about a call, hang up and talk to your bank, a family member you trust, or local police.

What did we check?

We read the FBI IC3 announcement, the FTC consumer alert and two ODOJ releases on October 23, 2026. We could not open the FBI Boston release on fbi.gov, so the national case counts above come from a news report of it. We did not verify any individual case. Quotes are as the sources state them.

This guide is general education, not personalized financial, tax or legal advice. See our financial disclaimer, editorial policy and advertising disclosure.