Two Chinese nationals who are in the U.S. illegally have been arrested in Williamson County for allegedly scamming a Brentwood man out of nearly $650,000 as part of a Gold Bar Scam.
Citing information obtained by the Brentwood Police Department and an arrest affidavit, News 2 reported that the suspected scammers, whose names are Fan Zhang and Zhen Chen, initially made contact with the victim through a scam call claiming to be law enforcement.
The outlet reported that when the victim answered the call, a “realistic-sounding woman reportedly claimed to be with the FBI and told the victim that his identity had been compromised,” further claiming that the cartel was using the victim’s identity to commit crimes and that his “accounts would be frozen” if he did not liquidate his cash into gold bars.
Captain Steve Pepin with the Brentwood Police Department’s Criminal Investigations Division told News 2 that the scam was “extremely elaborate” as the victim received faxes and documents that appeared to be authentic from the FBI and treasury department.
Once the victim liquidated his cash into gold, the scammers posed as treasury agents and met with the victim at his house on two occasions to collect the bars.
The outlet highlighted how the arrest report stated that the victim liquidated his bank accounts, 401K, and IRA to purchase the gold bars.
Once the scammers requested that the victim take out a loan on his property and make a third transaction, the man contacted police, which assisted the victim in coordinating a third meetup where police apprehended the suspects.
A translator was needed to speak Mandarin to the suspects upon arrest, the police said.
One of the two suspects arrested by police entered the country illegally and has an ICE detainer on them while the other overstayed a student visa, according to Pepin.
The police captain emphasized, however, that the suspects arrested were “low-level mules involved” in the scam operation, adding that federal agents were brought in to track down individuals higher up in the operation, who are most likely abroad.
The incident in Williamson County follows a similar scheme which unfolded earlier this year that saw two men of Chinese descent indicted for scamming a Soddy-Daisy man out of thousands of dollars in gold bars.
In 2024, victims across the nation lost a total of $219 million to gold scams, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s annual Internet Crime Complaint Center report.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
Photo “Fan Zhang and Zhen Chen” by Williamson County Sheriff’s Office.
