Man Sentenced For Stealing Nearly $800K In Gold Bar Scam Targeting MoCo Woman

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, MD — A California man has been sentenced to prison for stealing nearly $800,000 from a Montgomery County woman through a nationwide gold bar scam, according to a report.

Wenhui Sun, 35, was sentenced in Montgomery County Circuit Court on Tuesday to six and a half years in prison for his role in the scam that targeted a woman living in a Silver Spring retirement community, WTOP reported.

Sun, of Lake Arbor, California, was arrested in March 2024 after posing as a member of the Office of the Inspector General – Federal Trade Commission, police previously said.

Police said Sun told the woman that she was the victim of an identity theft that led to a federal investigation involving drugs and money laundering.

He then directed the woman to transfer her assets, worth $789,000, into two gold bars. Police said Sun told her the bars would be retrieved by a courier who was an FBI agent and would taken to the U.S. Department of Treasury for safekeeping.

The woman complied with the instructions, police said.

Sun was convicted in October. He will be placed on supervised release following his prison sentence, WTOP reported. He was also ordered to pay $457,410.34 in restitution.