In March of this year, police in Westlake, Ohio, conducted an undercover investigation after a 78-year-old woman became the victim of a financial scam, and arrested two suspects who worked as courier workers. At the time, they were referred to as two men from Pennsylvania, but now footage from the day of their arrest has been released and they have been identified as Manan Shah and Ankit Gupta.
An elaborate scam that lasted several months.
The scam began around August 2025, when an elderly victim saw a pop-up on her home computer claiming that her system had been hacked and she had been provided an FBI agent’s number. When the woman innocently called the number, she was told an elaborate story involving a cyberattack, a compromised account, an international investigation, and even the death of an undercover agent. The woman later said that while speaking with FBI agents, she truly believed that the government had advised her to withdraw the money and buy gold for “safekeeping.” This is now a well-known scam in the United States, and the woman said she feared her family would be affected and her account frozen.Couriers (posing as federal agents) repeatedly picked up gold bullion from Westlake’s home. She lost about $200,000 in real money before police got involved.In March 2026, a woman interested in the gold shop reported the scam and was also told to give up 80% of the stock in her 401(K) account.Detectives hijacked her communications/electronic devices and arranged another scheduled gold recovery using counterfeit/fake money, fake receipts, and photos to maintain the illusion. A drone was deployed to track the courier’s vehicle and two men were arrested without incident.In the interrogation video, the names of the two delivery men were revealed as Manan Shah and Ankit Gupta. They said they knew nothing about the scam and were just sent to pick up the package.
