Hirtik Hemchand Khatri, 24, of Lawrence Township, has been charged in a prolonged scam that defrauded an elderly man of nearly $700,000, much of which was in solid gold.

In a statement, District Attorney Gavin P. Holihan and Whitehall Township Police Chief Michael Marks said Khatri was arrested in New Jersey Feb. 26, after they were contacted by the victim, a 74-year-old township man.

The victim described a complicated string of PayPal exchanges and phone calls beginning in January that resulted in tens and then hundreds of thousands of dollars being swapped, false passwords being exchanged, and about a half-million dollars in savings being converted into actual gold bars while Khatri’s messages threatened police action for nonpayment.

Khari is charged with various felonies of theft as well as felonies of conspiracy and criminal use of a communications facility.

The Lehigh County Elder Abuse Task Force has seen a growing number of fraudulent scams and anticipates that these will continue to increase and will continue to target older citizens.

Officials warn that part of the reason older citizens are targeted is because they have more savings than younger people and are often easier to defraud when using new technologies like Pay-Pal, Bitcoin and electronic transfers.

They remind people to be suspicious of anyone who contacts you by phone and asks for large sums of money in any form. Anyone who requests or demands large amounts of funds, especially in untraceable methods like cryptocurrency, precious metals, gift cards and cash, is almost certainly part of a scam.

Contact your local law enforcement agency or the Lehigh County Elder Abuse Task Force if you think you are the target of fraud. The Elder Abuse Task Force can be reached at 610-782-3700.