Baldwin man charged with impersonating Federal Trade Commission agent demanding $400G in gold bars

Nassau County prosecutors charged a Baldwin man with defrauding a New Hyde Park man out of nearly $400,000 after the suspect said he was a federal agent and ordered the victim to buy gold bars.

Police said the 73-year-old victim received a message on his computer June 6 that his computer was compromised and he needed to call a listed phone number to protect his assets.

The victim called the number, and a man answered pretending to work for the Federal Trade Commission, police said. He told him to buy six gold bars valued at $390,000 from gold retailer JM Bullion.

The New Hyde Park man bought the gold and later turned it over to an unknown person who pulled up to the victim’s house to collect it.

Nassau County Major Case Bureau detectives worked with the FBI and Suffolk County police to investigate the scam.

Authorities arrested Yash Shah, 25, Monday and charged him with one count of second-degree grand larceny.

Shah pleaded not guilty during an arraignment Tuesday in First District Court in Hempstead. A judge released him with non-monetary conditions.

His Valley Stream-based defense attorney, Nicholas Ramcharitar, said Shah was arrested based off an investigation that began last year in Suffolk County.

“Mr. Shah has been used as a pawn by the proprietors of this international scheme to defraud," Ramcharitar said. "…We are eagerly anticipating the Nassau’s DA Office disclosure of discovery, as we intend to fight these allegations to the fullest extent of the law, to further prove our [client's] lack of culpability as to these heinous allegations.”

 Shah is set to return to court July 24.

By John Asbury

john.asbury@newsday.comJohnAsbury

John Asbury is a breaking news and general assignment reporter. He has been with Newsday since 2014 and previously worked at The Press-Enterprise in Riverside, California.