A 91-year-old Omaha woman mailed $18,000 in cash to an address in California after following instructions from a caller claiming to be a federal agent; the cash is likely lost. She also ordered $45,000 in gold coins, but avoided sending them after speaking with Chris Holtberg of Millard Jewelry and Coin.
The scheme began with a phone call from someone claiming to be a federal agent, according to WOWT. The caller instructed the victim to go to her bank, withdraw the cash, conceal it, and mail it to California — and warned her not to tell anyone, including her family. She did exactly as instructed, going to the bank herself to retrieve the money before sending it off.
Her daughter, who is listed on the woman’s bank account, urged her to speak up about the calls. The two then reported the scam to the FBI, according to the station.
A Request for Gold Raised a Red Flag
The caller also pressed the woman to buy $45,000 in gold coins. When she brought the request to Chris Holtberg, who is associated with Millard Jewelry and Coin, she said she thought she was being scammed. Holtberg helped her avoid sending the additional funds, WOWT reported.
Holtberg told the station that other customers had suffered substantial losses: one lost $150,000, and another lost roughly $50,000 to $60,000.
Retired FBI agent Tom Rasch told WOWT that the bureau will never call people to request cash shipments. A spokesperson for the FBI’s Omaha office advised residents to contact the FBI directly before sending money to anyone claiming to be an agent. The woman’s message to others is to tell family before sending money.
A Pattern Playing Out Nationwide
The Omaha case fits a fraud pattern that federal regulators say is accelerating fast. The Federal Trade Commission reported in June that Americans lost $3.5 billion to imposter scams in 2025, with government impersonation schemes alone accounting for $920 million of that total. The FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center reported in April that overall elder fraud losses surged 59 percent nationwide last year, reaching $7.75 billion across more than 201,000 victim complaints.
Gold-courier scam losses have grown, with FBI figures cited by Hoodline's earlier reporting on a nationwide senior gold scam rising from $219 million in 2024 to $311.8 million across roughly 725 complaints in 2025. An FTC analysis published in August 2025 found reports from older adults losing $10,000 or more to government and business impersonation schemes had more than quadrupled since 2020.
What Federal Guidelines Say
The U.S. Postal Inspection Service has been explicit on this point: federal agents and postal inspectors will never demand cash shipments, mandate secret courier handoffs, or threaten citizens with immediate arrest over the phone or by email.
Nebraska Guidance on Imposter Calls
The Nebraska Attorney General’s Office advises residents not to send money to unsolicited contacts claiming to work for the government and to verify claims through a known agency contact. In a separate February 20, 2025, alert, Attorney General Mike Hilgers and Lancaster County Sheriff Terry Wagner warned that scammers in Lancaster County were using threats and impersonating authorities, including the FBI and police.
Nationally, more than 12,400 seniors lost over $100,000 each to cyber and telecommunication fraud schemes in 2025, according to FBI data, underscoring how close the Omaha victim came to a far more devastating loss before Holtberg intervened.
