Lehigh County District Attorney Gavin P. Holihan and Whitehall Township Police Chief Michael Marks announced Feb. 28 the arrest of a man charged with stealing more than $500,000 in gold and approximately $91,000 in cash from a 74-year-old man.

Hirtik Hemchand Khatri, 24, of Lawrence Township, N.J., is charged with theft by unlawful taking-moveable property, theft by deception, theft by extortion and receiving stolen property, all felonies of the first degree; and conspiracy to commit theft by deception and criminal use of a communication facility, both felonies of the third degree.

Khatri was arrested Feb. 26 in New Jersey and is awaiting extradition to Pennsylvania.

On Feb. 3, Whitehall Township Police were contacted by a 74-year-old victim, whose name will not be released.

The victim told police he had been involved in a lengthy scam that resulted in a huge financial loss of $688,372 that began with an inquiry emailed to him about an allegedly fraudulent charge on the victim’s PayPal transaction.

The email stated a charge of $499.99 had been made to the victim’s PayPal account, and when the victim called to say he didn’t make the charge, the scam began. A man who identified himself as “David Wilson” said he would reimburse the victim but then said he had accidentally reimbursed the victim $49,999 instead of the original disputed amount. This began a lengthy scam in which the victim was told he would be responsible for the error and needed to repay PayPal.

The victim was ordered to withdraw $50,000 in cash and transfer it into Bitcoin, which the victim did by going to an area gas station with a Bitcoin kiosk to complete the transaction. The victim said between Jan. 8 and Jan. 10, he completed eight separate transactions at Bitcoin kiosks totaling $42,000.

After the transfers, the scam continued with another call saying PayPal had accidentally reimbursed the victim $350,000 instead of $350. The victim was told to withdraw $40,000 in cash and deposit it into the Bitcoin kiosk and directed him to purchase $300,000 in gold. The victim was also told a “password” to provide when the gold was picked up.

The victim was told that if the reimbursements weren’t made, police would come and arrest him. The victim said he was in fear of going to jail, and he made several other Bitcoin transfers Jan. 14, totaling $32,260.

On Jan. 22, the victim said he withdrew funds from his IRA and purchased 108 gold bars for $297,540. He then made contact with “David Wilson,” who told the victim that someone from PayPal would arrive at his home to pick up the gold. The victim told police a man arrived at his home in a Mercedes-Benz and picked up the gold. The investigation later revealed this man to be Khatri.

The victim said a few days later, he was again contacted by the same “David Wilson” who told the victim there had been an error in processing the payment and the victim needed to purchase more gold. The victim again purchased more gold totaling $298,867 Jan. 28 from an online retailer.

On Jan. 30, the victim said Khatri again arrived at his home and picked up the second gold purchase. The total value of the gold picked up from the victim by Khatri is $596,407. The victim told police Feb. 3 that he attempted to make contact with the person who arranged the alleged repayments but was not able to reach him.

A license plate reader was able to identify the Mercedes-Benz that arrived at the victim’s house and the car owner was identified as Khatri. The victim was also able to identify Khatri from a photo lineup.

The Lehigh County Elder Abuse Task Force has seen a growing number of fraudulent scams and anticipates these will continue to increase and will continue to target our older citizens. 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 PayPal, Bitcoin and electronic transfers.

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

This case was investigated by Whitehall Township Police Detective Lindsay Yetter, the Lehigh County Elder Abuse Task Force, Homeland Security Investigations in Allentown and Trenton, Homeland Security Investigation Agent Sean Crawford and Lawrence Township, N.J., Police Department and will be prosecuted by Senior Deputy District Attorney Ramma R. Mineo.