A New Jersey man admitted he was part of a group of people who posed as government officials to convince victims in five states to give them gold bars and cash.

Bharat Awasarmol, 49, pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit wire fraud and making false statements to an FBI agent, the U.S. Attorney’s Office of Maine said Tuesday.

The fraudsters called people in New Jersey, New York, Maine, New Hampshire and Virginia and told them they worked for the government, charging documents state. The callers told their targets they were “in danger of losing their assets” and should convert them to gold and cash, court papers state.

Once victims agreed to meet, the scammers communicated with them using WhatsApp, instructing them to drop off cash and gold bars so government officials could hold them fo

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