Arashdeep Dhaliwal, a 28-year-old man from California, was sentenced to 30 days in jail, three years of supervised probation, and ordered to pay $30,000 in restitution after scamming an elderly couple in Loveland, Larimer County, Colorado. In March, the couple, an 85-year-old man and an 83-year-old woman, were tricked by a pop-up on their computer that led them to believe they needed to withdraw $30,000 to fix a fake technical issue. The scammer, posing as a “Microsoft Support Services” representative, later contacted them again, asking for an additional $70,000 to resolve a fabricated bank problem. The couple was instructed to withdraw the money in gold bars and give it to the scammer.

Suspicious of the request, the couple contacted the Larimer County Sheriff’s office. Investigators worked with the victims and arrested Dhaliwal when he came to collect the gold. He was identified and charged with theft from an at-risk person, a class 3 felony, and theft, a class 5 felony. Dhaliwal later entered a plea agreement, pleading guilty to one count of theft as a class 4 felony, with the other charges dismissed. In addition to his jail time and probation, Dhaliwal was ordered to pay restitution to the victims.

“The scammer initially contacted the elderly couple on the phone, where he told them to withdraw $30,000,” a sheriff’s office spokesperson said. “Someone then picked up the money from them.” The sheriff’s office also pointed out that scammers “scare people into giving the scammers money, and use psychological manipulation to discourage them from reporting the crime.” They emphasized that legitimate authorities will never ask for payments to resolve issues like those created by the scam. The department encourages anyone with information on similar scams to contact local authorities.