Posted on 06/11/2026 5:37:37 AM PDT by Red Badger
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — After being told her Social Security funds were supporting terrorism, a widow was directed to buy $700,000 in gold — but an alert store owner intervened before crooks could make off with her money, records show.
A young man, who was reportedly sent to Michigan from Illinois to fetch the gold, ended up with a bag of chocolate coins and a pair of 20-year felonies instead.
“They didn’t know they were getting chocolate gold coins,” said Ben Soldaat, owner of Grand Rapids Coins, who alerted authorities to the suspected scam in early May.
“It just didn’t add up to me and I’ve run into a few (scams) before in the past,” said Soldaat, who opened his business in 2020.
Ben Soldaat, the owner of Grand Rapids Coins, spotted a gold coin scam. (WOOD)
Scams targeting elderly people are increasing, with more cases centered around requests for gold, officials say. Often, the fraudsters pose as members of law enforcement or government agencies like the Social Security Administration.
The victim in this case told Nexstar’s WOOD the person who called her had a “very good voice” and said that her Social Security number was being used to promote terrorism, drug activity and money laundering.
“And somehow he convinced me,” said the woman, who lives in Ottawa County, Michigan. “It’s really kind of devastating to realize how easily I was fooled by these fraudsters.”
A similar case elsewhere in Michigan led to the weekend arrests of two people from out of state. They’re accused of posing as federal agents and trying to get an elderly couple to convert $250,000 into gold, court records show. They “admitted to committing similar crimes throughout the Midwest over the past four months,” court records show.
Other recent cases include a multimillion-dollar gold scam targeting elderly people across Texas involving Canadian gold maple leaf coins, law enforcement there reported.
“It’s a nationwide trend,” Kent County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Scott Dietrich said. “A lot of times, these elderly people are convinced the scam is real… It is going to take family members and businesses to step in early and protect those vulnerable adults from losing all their money.”
Local investigators say they believe the early May scam was sourced out of India. The one person charged, 20-year-old Yug B. Chauhan, has a home address in Elmhurst, Illinois.
Chauhan is locked up in the Kent County jail with a $100,000 bond and a hold from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Something wasn’t right
The Ottawa County woman, believing her Social Security account was being used to fund terrorism, said she went online looking for gold stores and came across Soldaat’s business on 10 Mile Road NE near US-131. She made the 40-mile drive and spent several minutes talking with Soldaat.
“He really pressed me about whether I was sure about this. I was so convinced that what I was doing was the right thing to do,” the woman said.
For Soldaat, red flags started popping up. The woman talked about buying the gold as an investment for her children, but also showed minimal interest in the product, Soldaat explained. She also “displayed urgency, confusion,” and asked the same questions about transactions that had already been explained, he said.
Michigan Attorney General warns of fake toll violation scam texts
The $700,000 was wired to Grand Rapids Coins, but Soldaat said it would take three to five days to get the gold on site. The woman “seemed antsy and urgent to get the gold,” he said.
“I got the feeling she was really being pushed to come up with a substantial amount of gold fast, and not for the reason that she initially mentioned,” Soldaat said. “Somebody was pushing her in a direction she didn’t want to go.”
Timely intervention
Soldaat contacted the Kent County Sheriff’s Office “just to play it safe.”
“I don’t want somebody to lose their entire life savings on a scam. I felt it was the right thing to do,” he said.
It was.
Detectives met with Soldaat and then visited the woman at her home. She told them that “she had been contacted by an individual claiming to be a Social Security agent,” court records show.
“The caller told her funds were being used to support terrorism and instructed her to purchase gold so law enforcement could track the criminals,” a detective wrote in the court record.
While detectives were at her home, multiple calls came in from an individual who identified himself as “Eric.”
“Eric repeatedly asked whether she was able to go to the gold store,” records show.
Detectives identified a Chicago-area connection to the suspected fraud. One of the participants was sent to the outskirts of Rockford to collect the gold, according to investigators and court records.
A May 2, 2026, booking photo of Yug Chauhan from the Kent County Correctional Facility.
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That man, identified as Yug Chauhan, said he was instructed by a person named “Bhawsh” to have an Uber driver take him from a gas station to a doughnut shop near the gold store. That is where he was told to pick up a parcel from someone who was supposed to be the 79-year-old woman, records show. That woman was actually an undercover Kent County sheriff’s detective.
“The undercover agent dressed up like an older woman, came in and got a package of chocolate gold coins from us to deliver to the courier,” Soldaat said with a laugh. “I’m glad they did it like that. It was certainly quick thinking on their end.”
Chauhan said he has never met the man providing the instructions, adding that they “solely spoke in Hindu during their calls” and primarily communicated through WhatsApp, records show. The investigation into the upper reaches of the fraud continues.
Chauhan, meanwhile, last week had his felony case moved to Kent County Circuit Court. The charges against him, false pretenses of $100,000 or more and using a computer to commit a crime, are 20-year felonies.
After the dust settled, the woman being targeted called and thanked Soldaat for intervening.
“It was nice,” he said. “I am certainly glad she didn’t lose a substantial amount of money on a scam.”
The woman, who asked not to be identified, said she hopes what happened to her serves as a cautionary tale for others.
“If I can help someone else not become a victim of this kind of behavior, I would be glad to do that,” she said. “I happened to be able to get my money back, but a lot of people don’t.”
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Ah, he looks Hindu…though I’m sure they spoke Hindi.
Saw this last note didn’t read up until now. Wasn’t expecting a foreigner.
Are all Scamalis and Indians CROOKS ?
Why is this guy in our country?
Jail him for a few years and the dump him back into whatever toilet of a country he came from.
The old Bank Examiner con. Yug must not have been very bright, unless it was a really big bag of chocolate coins, since $700K in gold would have weighed around ten pounds avoirdupois.
“Spoke Hindu”
I can’t understand you. Speak Christian.
Mostly. That’s why they are here.
As I read on some site last night, they grow up in countries where evading government controls is a way of life, so when they come to the USA it is so easy for them they are in Nirvana............
I live in the Rockford area. Not a THING on our local news about it.
“ The one person charged, 20-year-old Yug B. Chauhan, has a home address in Elmhurst, Illinois.”
Ah yes. An old line Elmhurst family. Been there for generations.
L
Can’t be disparaging the local immigrant community now can we?..................
Dear Editor, The language is ‘Hindi’ not ‘Hindu’.......
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDC40D4D8C4E28BC3
😁😆😎.................
I’ve noticed that they are smaller than they used to be...............
There’s a fella on YouTube. His page is something like “The Rosen report” he is always showing new scams and how they are getting folks. Like one was on gas pump skimmers (which got me twice- cleaned my account out) I didn’t know how they were getting my account number and pin 5ill I ran across an article on skimmers. Hackers can install skimmers in seconds while clerks are distracted too in stores.
Anyway, it’s shocking how many scams there are- he does a good job alerting the public to new emerging scams too.
“Hackers can install skimmers in seconds while clerks are distracted too in stores.”
Unless the clerk IS the hacker or his cousin............
Very well could be. One video though showed two men dressed as some kind of state workers, ie safety vests, hard hat etc, go into store, one distracted the clerk to the back of store while the other placed a skimmer keypad on machine. The video was wild. It showed customers who knew about the skimmers ripping off the fake keypads right in front of the clerks.
They have them now though where the device goes in the machine, so they can be detected very well, and are easier to install. The scammers are getting too sophisticated.
No, but you won’t go wrong treating them as if they are, until proven otherwise.
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