Cumberland woman loses $100K in email scam involving gold bars

The Cumberland Police Department stated that a man from New York has been arrested and charged in connection with the scam.

CUMBERLAND, Maine — A woman in Cumberland is out $100,000 after falling victim to what local police call a “sophisticated scam.” The con involved an email, a fake Microsoft employee, and gold bars — and now, law enforcement is urging the public to be cautious.

“I think anyone can be scammed if the circumstances are right,” said Cumberland Police Chief Charles Rumsey, who said he once fell for a scam himself.

In this case, police say it all started with a seemingly harmless email. The woman clicked on a link, giving scammers remote access to her computer. Shortly after, someone claiming to be a Microsoft employee called her. To protect her money, the scammer convinced her to convert her savings into gold bars — and later, a fake courier arrived at her home to collect them.

“Sadly, we’re not sure if that’s something we’ll ever be able to recover,” Chief Rumsey said.

Police say scams like this are becoming more frequent — and more sophisticated. The FBI has informed the department that similar schemes are happening nationwide.

“Don’t answer phone calls from unknown callers,” he said to help avoid a scam. “You’re never going to have to exchange your money for gold, or bitcoin, or gift cards to give that to somebody else so that they can help you. That’s just not the way legitimate business works. If folks can just understand that if they get an outreach like that they should know it’s not legitimate and they should go to their police department.”

Rumsey said they arrested Zhangqi Xie, a 44-year-old male from New York, in connection to the scam. He has been charged with Theft by Deception, a class B felony punishable by a period of incarceration of up to 10 years and fines of up to $20,000.

The Cumberland Police Department says the investigation is still in its early stages. Authorities believe more people may be involved in the scam.

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