With gold near about $4,170 an ounce on our site's ticker, a one-kilogram bar on our gold page is listed at well over $130,000. That is exactly why criminals love gold. On September 25, 2026, the Pennsylvania State Police warned that scammers posing as federal agents had stolen about $6.5 million through a gold scheme, with victims across the country, including in Washington State. The same playbook has already hit families in Portland and across Oregon.

Here is how the gold bar courier scam works, the red flags to watch for, and what Tualatin and Portland-area families can do to protect themselves and their parents. This is educational information, not financial or legal advice.

How the scam works

The FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) describes a pattern that rarely changes. It often starts with a computer pop-up or a call saying your bank account or computer has been hacked. Scammers may pose, one after another, as a tech company, your bank and a U.S. government official, a version the FBI calls the "Phantom Hacker" scam. Then comes the pitch: your money is not safe, and the only way to protect it is to withdraw it and buy gold, silver or other precious metals.

Once the metal is bought, a "courier" shows up at your home or a public place to collect it for "safekeeping." The FBI says scammers may give you a passcode to confirm the courier, such as the serial number of a dollar bill. Sometimes they tell victims to wire money to a metal dealer who ships the gold straight to the house. Either way, the victim never hears from them again.

Pennsylvania investigators described the same opening this fall: a pop-up, then callers claiming the victim's Social Security number was tied to crime, then instructions to buy gold bars or coins and hand them to a courier.

How big it has gotten

The FBI's 2025 IC3 annual report counted about 725 gold courier complaints with $311.8 million in reported losses in that one year. People 60 and older filed 201,266 complaints of all kinds in 2025, reporting about $7.7 billion in losses, up 59% from 2024. Oregon complainants 60 and older reported about $77.5 million in losses across all crime types.

The real numbers are likely higher. FBI Boston, which documented at least 1,737 courier pickups of cash or gold nationwide from 2023 to May 2025, notes that many victims are ashamed, don't know where to report, or don't realize they were scammed.

It has already happened here

• Portland: in October 2024, the FBI arrested a courier accused of traveling to Portland to pick up more than $400,000 in gold bars from a couple ages 86 and 93, in a case involving more than $3 million in gold bars, according to federal prosecutors as reported by the Daily Tidings.
• Eastern Oregon: the Oregon Department of Justice reported in July 2025 that a woman lost $600,000, nearly her entire life savings. Her sister called the state's consumer hotline, and local law enforcement stopped her from handing over another $300,000.
• More cases: two weeks later, the state reported another Oregon woman losing tens of thousands of dollars, and a person in the same Eastern Oregon county losing $60,000 in silver bars.
• Lincoln County: an 81-year-old woman lost $284,000 to a caller posing as an FBI agent. A courier was arrested near Toledo in September 2025, the Newport News-Times reported.

Red flags that mean "scam," every time

• Anyone tells you to buy gold to "protect" your money. The FBI says the U.S. government and legitimate businesses will never ask you to buy gold or other precious metals. Oregon's Attorney General put it plainly: "If someone tells you to buy gold to keep your money safe, it's a scam — full stop."
• A courier is coming to collect it. The FTC says it does not matter who they claim the courier works for. Don't hand over bars, and don't deliver them.
• A password or code. Oregon's Division of Financial Regulation warns that a government official will never give you a top-secret password.
• Urgency and secrecy. Oregon's DOJ warns of pressure to make urgent financial decisions, and Kiplinger notes scammers often insist you keep it confidential. That is a tactic, not a procedure.
• A phone number from a pop-up, text or email. The FBI says never call it, and never give a stranger remote access to your computer.
• Offers to buy the gold for you. Oregon regulators say some fraudsters even insist on making the purchase on the victim's behalf.

What to do if you get the call

1. Hang up, close the pop-up and stop replying.
2. Look up the bank's or agency's number yourself, from your statement or an official .gov site, and call it directly.
3. If a courier is on the way or you already handed something over, call local law enforcement right away.
4. Report it: the FBI at ic3.gov, the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov, and the Oregon DOJ consumer hotline at 1-877-877-9392. People 60 and older can get help filing with the DOJ Elder Justice Hotline at 1-833-372-8311.

Our take (opinion): talk about it before the phone rings

In our view, the best defense is a five-minute family conversation. Tell parents and grandparents one simple rule: nobody legitimate will ever ask them to buy gold and give it away. In the Eastern Oregon case, a sister's phone call kept another $300,000 from disappearing.

We also think honest dealers are part of the safety net. Hearst Television reported that a Boston gold dealer grew suspicious when a woman urgently tried to buy $500,000 in gold bars, called the FBI, and the purchase was stopped. If a customer seems to be following phone instructions, a good dealer should slow down and ask why. If you buy metal for yourself, it should stay in your hands; our guides on storing gold and silver at home and local dealers versus online sellers can help. For a different kind of warning sign, see our counterfeit red flags post, and if you are sorting a relative's metals, start with our guide to inherited estate coins.

Buying or selling gold in Tualatin

Real gold buying is face to face and on your schedule, and nobody else collects it afterward. Local Coin Company buys gold, silver, platinum and coin collections and sells gold and silver bullion, with current prices on our gold page. Our coin shop visit checklist covers what to bring. We are at 19354 SW Boones Ferry Rd., Tualatin, OR 97062. Our normal trading hours are Monday through Friday 8 AM to 4 PM and Saturday 8 AM to 3 PM. Appointments have priority, so call 503-855-5255 to schedule.

Sources: FBI IC3 public service announcement on couriers and precious metals (Jan. 29, 2024) and 2025 IC3 Annual Report; FBI Boston (Sept. 22, 2025); FTC consumer alert (July 17, 2025); Oregon Department of Justice releases (July 18 and Aug. 1, 2025); Oregon Division of Financial Regulation (Sept. 26, 2025); Pennsylvania State Police (Sept. 25, 2026); Daily Tidings (Nov. 9, 2024); Newport News-Times (Oct. 15, 2025); WBAL-TV/Hearst Television; Kiplinger (Feb. 7, 2026); localcoinco.com prices as of October 12, 2026.