Authorities shut down 3 illegal call centers tied to gold bar scam
John McCarthy, the state’s attorney for Montgomery County speaks during a press conference at the Montgomery County Police Department in Gaithersburg, Md., Feb. 2, 2026. (Montgomery County Police Department)
(MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md.) — Maryland and federal authorities announced Monday that they have shut down three Indian call centers linked to a gold bar scam that stole millions of dollars from American consumers.
Authorities said the operation netted almost $50 million from more than 600 victims across the U.S. through wire transfer, cryptocurrency and gold bar schemes.
The six alleged leaders of the scheme were also arrested, authorities said.
An ABC News investigation previously found that as the value of gold surged, grifters posing as federal agents convinced people — mostly older Americans — to convert their life savings into gold bars.
As part of the scheme, scammers sent “couriers” to pick up the bars in person to allegedly keep them in a secure location.
Last year, ABC News interviewed a suspected courier from jail as he faced charges in two states for his alleged involvement in the scam. He claimed he was hired by an individual in India and paid between $800 and $4,000 per job to pick up packages, some of which contained gold bars.
John McCarthy, the Maryland state attorney for Montgomery County, announced Monday that his office had indicted 10 couriers accused of collecting money from victims, and said that several of those cases have already resulted in convictions.
“They’re targeting people who have retirement money, who have pensions, who have investments, who’ve maybe sold their homes and have that money in reserve,” McCarthy said.
A Alaska Airline plane flies past the stadium while teams warm up prior to a NWSL match between Bay FC and San Diego Wave at PayPal Park on August 16, 2025 in San Jose, California. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/NWSL via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Alaska Airlines operations have been restored after a significant IT outage resulted in a system-wide ground stop of flights for Alaska and Horizon, according to Alaska Airlines.
The ground stop was lifted at 11:30 p.m. PST as the company said they are “working to get our operations back on track as quickly and safely as possible.”
“Since this afternoon, we’ve had more than 229 flight cancellations,” the airline said. “Additional flight disruptions are likely as we reposition aircraft and crews throughout our network.”
“We appreciate the patience of our guests whose travel plans have been disrupted. We’re working to get them to their destinations as quickly as we can. Before heading to the airport, we encourage flyers to check their flight status,” the statement continued. “A flexible travel policy is in place to support guests as operations return to normal following an IT outage.”
The airline had grounded their flights nationwide on Thursday after the airline said it was experiencing an “IT outage affecting operations,” saying the issue was a failure in its primary data center and not a cyberattack or related to any other event.
As the ground stop stretched on, the airline said it was canceling Alaska Airlines flights as well as flights on Horizon Air, a regional airline owned by the airline. Hawaiian Airlines flights were not affected.
The Federal Aviation Administration first issued a ground stop about 7:30 p.m. ET after a request by the airline.
“We deeply apologize to our guests whose travel plans have been disrupted today,” the airline said in a statement. “We’re working to get them to their destinations as quickly as we can.”
It’s the second IT outage affecting the airline this year.
A sign marks the location of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) headquarters building on April 30, 2025, in Washington, DC. (Photo by J. David Ake/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — The Justice Department has filed terrorism charges against an Arizona man for his alleged role in the growing network of online predators known as “764,” whose worldwide followers use social media platforms to target, groom and push young teens into harming themselves and others.
An indictment unsealed Thursday in Arizona charged 21-year-old Baron Martin of Tucson with conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists, marking the first time that the Justice Department has leveled such charges against an alleged member of 764.
The move does not mean that the U.S. government has formally designated 764 as a terrorist organization like ISIS or Al-Qaeda, but it does signify that the government believes members of 764 engage in “terrorist activity” under U.S. law.
Martin was first arrested in December and indicted on three counts of cyberstalking and producing sexually explicit material of children. He pleaded not guilty to those charges.
The indictment unsealed Thursday adds 26 more charges, alleging that he was deeply involved in a “sadistic and masochistic” conspiracy to “systematically and methodically target” vulnerable teenagers who can be pushed into cutting themselves with sharp objects, creating sexually explicit and gore-filled videos and photos, torturing animals, or even killing themselves — all while on camera.
According to the indictment, while using 15 different monikers, Martin hosted and ran “group chats” associated with 764 on social media platforms, controlling access to them and making demands of victims, some of whom were extorted into participating.
The indictment cites nine specific victims who were allegedly targeted by Martin, ranging in age from 11 to 18.
In 2022, he allegedly forced a 13-year-old girl overseas to carve one of his online monikers — “Convict” — and other symbols on her body, causing “permanent disfigurement.” And, live on a video call with 15 others, he allegedly forced the girl to let her family dog attack her family’s hamster, and then he and the others made the victim stomp on the hamster’s head and feed it to the dog, while also recording it to share with even more people, the indictment says.
Also in 2022, after Martin got into an online dispute with another 13-year-old girl, he allegedly threatened to kill her grandmother — vowing that it would “send a message” — and he offered to pay someone $3,000 to commit the murder, according to the indictment and other court documents. He also allegedly “conducted a live extortion” of an 18-year-old overseas, who, after being repeatedly told to kill herself, was forced to cut a symbol into her forehead — after which Martin then allegedly shared a photo online of the girl’s bloody face.
In other court proceedings, federal prosecutors said that Martin also “participated in bomb threats, swatting and doxing campaigns, and alleged kidnappings.”
“This man’s alleged crimes are unthinkably depraved and reflect the horrific danger of 764,” Attorney General Pamela Bondi said in a statement. “I urge parents to remain vigilant about the threats their children face online.”
In addition to one count of conspiring to provide material support to terrorists, the indictment unsealed Thursday charges Martin with conspiring to maim someone in a foreign country, seeking murder for hire, promoting and distributing animal torture material, and numerous child exploitation-related charges, including taking part in a child exploitation enterprise.
Authorities say that one of the main goals of 764 and similar networks is to sow chaos and bring down society.
They try to accomplish this by first befriending vulnerable teens online and then convincing them to share sexually explicit images or videos of themselves, experts say. That sexually explicit material is then used to blackmail victims into increasingly violent actions, and it escalates from there — with victims’ family members or pets threatened if victims stop complying.
Victims routinely end up being coerced into carving their tormentor’s online monikers into their own skin, mutilating themselves in other ways, attacking or threatening others, or torturing animals — all while capturing it on camera, so the videos or photos can be shared with others to boost one’s status within 764.
Predators also routinely promote neo-Nazi ideology, ISIS propaganda, and school shootings, desensitizing vulnerable teens to violence, authorities say.
Since the launch of the initial 764 group nearly five years ago — when the 15-year-old Texas boy who started it named it after the first three digits of his ZIP code — authorities say 764 has become a global movement, with an ever-expanding network of offshoots and subgroups that often rebrand and change their names to help keep social media companies and law enforcement from tracking them.
The FBI’s Counterterrorism Division and the Justice Department’s National Security Division are now looking at 764 and its offshoots as a potential form of domestic terrorism, even coining a new term to characterize the most heinous actors: “nihilistic violent extremists.”
Last month, FBI Director Kash Patel told a Senate panel that fighting 764 is now “a priority” within the FBI.
“We’re going after the new form of what I refer to as modern day terrorism in America, 764 crimes that involve harming our children by going after them online, causing self-mutilation, suicide, sexual abuse and steering them in the wrong direction,” Patel said before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
According to the FBI, federal authorities have now opened investigations into more than 300 people suspected of ties to 764 or its offshoots across the country, with each subject under investigation potentially having victimized multiple young teens.
A person plays Mega millions lottery at a gas stations on July 11, 2023. (Photo by Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — The estimated $900 million Mega Millions jackpot is up for grabs in Tuesday night’s drawing after no winners were selected on Friday.
The numbers drawn Friday were: 16, 21, 23, 48 and 70, plus the gold Mega Ball 5.
The jackpot was last won on June 27.
The prize has a cash value of $415.3 million which can be offered as a one-time lump sum payment or an immediate payment followed by 29 annual payments.
The odds of winning the jackpot at 1 in 290,472,336, according to Mega Millions.
Mega Millions is played in 45 states, Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Tickets are $5 for one play.
The largest Mega Millions jackpot prize ever won was $1.6 billion prize won on Aug. 8, 2023.
