Woman loses more than $400K of retirement savings to gold courier scam

WINNEBAGO COUNTY, Wis. (InvestigateTV) — It can start with a pop-up on the computer screen and sometimes ends with the innocent victim handing over their life savings to a scammer.The FBI reported in 2025 that the “gold courier” scam alone drained more than $300 million from victims.Criminals trick victims, often retirees, that their personal information has been compromised. The scammer then convinces them that in order to secure their assets, they need to convert cash into gold bars or coins.Then the fraudsters send a fake courier to collect the gold in person.A Wisconsin woman lost more than $400,000 of her retirement savings after scammers impersonated federal agencies, her investment company and the Better Business Bureau to convince her she was protecting her money.“Forty years’ worth of savings, and it’s gone,” said the woman, who we will call Mary.How it beganMary said the scheme started when she clicked a pop-up on her computer while scheduling an appointment with her financia