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.
(WASHINGTON) Officials decided to gradually increase air travel reductions to 10% after the safety team determined it would be the safest approach, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy told reporters at Reagan National Airport.
Major airlines say they are planning to cancel hundreds of flights on Friday — out of thousands of daily flights — as the Federal Aviation Administration is set to begin limiting flight capacity at 40 major U.S. airports amid the government shutdown.
If the government shutdown continues, more air travel reductions could be on the way, Duffy said.
“I want it to be fixed, but also I have to continue to look at data and if this continues, and I have more [air traffic] controllers who decide they can’t come to work and control the airspace, but instead have to take a second job, with that you might see 10% would have been a good number, because we might go to 15% or 20%,” Duffy said.
This could likely cost airlines tens of millions of dollars, Duffy said.
The initial plan called for a 10% reduction starting Friday, but officials chose to gradually increase the reductions for safety, Duffy said.
Loss of separation — the minimum distance kept between aircrafts to keep them safe — in the airspace and complaints from pilots about stress from air traffic controllers are among the data points that led to the decision to reduce air travel, Duffy said.
“We’ve seen more breaches in regard to that loss of separation, we see more incursions on tarmac throughout the country, and we have more complaints from pilots about stress from air traffic controllers, and more complaints about the lack of responsiveness from controllers,” Duffy said.
“That data is going in the wrong direction, not in the right direction, which made us make the decision we have to actually take additional measures to reduce the pressure in our system,” Duffy said.
As of 2:30 a.m. ET on Friday morning, at least 814 flights within, into or out of the United States have been cancelled so far, per FlightAware
American Airlines said Thursday it will cancel about 220 of its roughly 6,000 departures starting Friday and lasting through this weekend.
United Airlines said in a statement it plans to cancel less than 200 of its more than 5,000 flights each day through the weekend. The airline has listed the flight cancellations on a special website along with other information for travelers.
A company spokesperson told ABC News that about half of customers who had their flights canceled were able to be rebooked within 4 hours of their original departure time.
Delta Airlines said it planned to cancel about 170 daily flights.
American, United and Delta — the three largest airlines in the U.S. — all have said they believe they will be able to accommodate most of the impacted passengers on other flights.
The cancellations are the latest — and perhaps biggest — disruption to air travel since the government shutdown began more than a month ago.
The FAA decided not to cut any international flights as it would be a violation of international agreements with the countries, according to Duffy.
“We have international agreements that we abide by, and because of those international agreements, I’m not going to impact those international flights. And because if I do, what will happen is we have other countries that are waiting to have a breach of those contracts from the US so they can cut down American flights, and then that would have a very long lasting impact on our ability to to to send travelers from the U.S. to those partners that have the agreements,” Duffy said.
Duffy said he has spoken to President Donald Trump about the flight reduction decision and that the White House is “fully read in” on it.
“The White House also looks to the safety team to help us make the right decisions to do the best we can to keep people safe. But there’s an easy answer. There’s an easy answer, open up the government, stop this,” Duffy said.
What travelers are saying Travelers began to be notified of the canceled flights on Thursday.
Caitlin Ladner, in Wisconsin, said she had planned to fly to Raleigh, North Carolina, on a Friday for a trip to surprise her parents with her sister but got a notice about her canceled flight on the United app.
“We’ve been planning it for a while …. It’s pretty upsetting,” she told ABC News.
Despite an offer to reschedule her flight, she said she decided to cancel it altogether.
“I don’t know when all this is going to end,” she said.
Meanwhile, other travelers across the country on Thursday were bracing for delays — and trying to make it home before the cancellations started.
At Reagan National Airport, just outside Washington, D.C., Frederick Ross, from Fort Myers, Florida, told ABC News the current travel headaches have him rethinking his upcoming holiday travel plans.
“It’s a big factor to have to possibly deal with delays and cancellations, and talking about traveling with the whole family, it’s easier to just take a road trip,” he said.
FAA order limits flights The FAA said earlier this week it was reducing flight capacity at 40 major airports across the country to alleviate staffing pressures. The reductions this weekend are starting out at 4% but will eventually climb to 10%, federal officials said.
Under an emergency order issued by the FAA on Thursday, airlines are required to reduce operations at the 40 “high-impact airports” by 6% by Nov. 11 and by 10% by Nov. 14. Any airline that does not comply will be fined $75,000 per flight over the limit, according to the FAA order.
That announcement came after Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said earlier that the FAA would be forced to shut down the airspace in some areas if the shutdown continues into next week, warning of “mass chaos.”
Staffing shortages among air traffic controllers has been an ongoing concern and there have been scattered flight delays and cancellations over the past several weeks, as the shutdown has stretched on.
Last weekend, a surge in callouts among air traffic controllers led to strained staffing at multiple airports across the U.S. — including in the New York City area where 80% of controllers were absent at one point, the FAA reported.
Air traffic controllers, who are required to work without pay for the duration of the shutdown, are credited with helping end the most recent shutdown in 2019, when a series of absences delayed flights and heightened pressure on members of Congress.
The precise impact the flight cancellations will have on overall air travel is unclear.
“We’re not in the peak of summer, we’re not over a holiday period. So we feel confident that we have enough seats in these markets to accommodate all travelers,” United’s chief customer officer, David Kinzelman, told ABC News.
“There will not be chaos over the weekend,” he said, likening the impact of the reductions to a “medium-sized storm.”
He added, “We are going to cancel flights that we think have the least amount of disruption for customers. If you’re in a market with only two small regional flights and you cancel one or both of them, that’s a huge impact to that market. We want to avoid that. And so what we’re doing is really spreading it around the system.”
ABC News’ Ayesha Ali, Sam Sweeney and Rachel Scott contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — Two National Guard members are dead after being shot in downtown Washington near the White House, according to West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey.
“It is with great sorrow that we can confirm both members of the West Virginia National Guard who were shot earlier today in Washington, DC have passed away from their injuries. These brave West Virginians lost their lives in the service of their country. We are in ongoing contact with federal officials as the investigation continues,” Morrisey said.
“Our entire state grieves with their families, their loved ones, and the Guard community. West Virginia will never forget their service or their sacrifice, and we will demand full accountability for this horrific act,” Morrisey said.
The two National Guard members were a woman and man, according to a law enforcement official briefed on the situation.
A suspect is in custody, the Metropolitan Police Department said, and the scene has been secured. A man believed to be suspect in critical condition, the law enforcement official said.
Multiple law enforcement agencies, including U.S. Marshalls, ATF and the FBI, responded to the shooting. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said her agency was working with local authorities to gather more information.
According to a D.C. police official, there was an active shooter incident reported at 2:20 p.m. ET at the entrance to the Farragut West Metro station.
President Donald Trump has been briefed on the shooting, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.
A White House official confirmed the White House is currently on lockdown. Trump is currently in Florida, where he is spending Thanksgiving at his Mar-a-Lago club.
“The animal that shot the two National Guardsmen, with both being critically wounded, and now in two separate hospitals, is also severely wounded, but regardless, will pay a very steep price,” Trump wrote on his social media platform on Wednesday afternoon. “God bless our Great National Guard, and all of our Military and Law Enforcement. These are truly Great People. I, as President of the United States, and everyone associated with the Office of the Presidency, am with you!”
The National Guard was deployed to the nation’s capital as part of President Trump’s federal takeover of the city in August. According to the most recent update, there are 2,188 Guard personnel assigned to D.C.
On Tuesday, during the traditional turkey pardon, Trump touted his administration’s takeover of D.C. He said it was “one of our most unsafe places anywhere in the United States. It is now considered a totally safe city.”
“You could walk down any street in Washington and you’re going to be just fine. And I want to thank the National Guard. I want to thank you for the job you’ve done here is incredible,” Trump said at the event.
Vice President JD Vance addressed the shooting on Wednesday as he spoke to troops in Texas, where he was spending the day serving meals to soldiers and their families ahead of Thanksgiving.
“We’re still learning everything. We still don’t know the motive,” Vance said.
“It’s a somber reminder that soldiers, whether they’re active duty reserve or National Guard, our soldiers are the sword and the shield of the United States of America,” the vice president said. “And as a person who goes into work every single day in that building and knows that there are a lot of people who wear the uniform of the United States Army, let me just say very personally thank them for what they’re doing.”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
ICE Police and Immigration & Deportation (Douglas Rissing/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — The Department of Homeland Security has now picked another state on which to focus its immigration enforcement action: Maine.
On Wednesday, DHS launched “Operation Catch of the Day” — an operation targeting criminal illegal migrants in the state, according to a DHS spokesperson.
Assistant DHS Secretary Tricia McLaughlin singled out Maine Gov. Janet Mills, a Democrat, and “her fellow sanctuary politicians” for prompting the need for the federal immigration crackdown in Maine.
“We have launched Operation Catch of the Day to target the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens in the state. On the first day of operations, we arrested illegal aliens convicted of aggravated assault, false imprisonment, and endangering the welfare of a child,” McLaughlin said in a statement. “Under President Trump and [DHS] Secretary [Kristi] Noem, we are no longer allowing criminal illegal aliens to terrorize American citizens.”
It was not immediately clear how long DHS plans to keep U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in Maine or if the Customs and Border Protection agents currently operating in Minneapolis will move to Maine.
Mills, who has had previous run-ins with President Donald Trump over the past year, is running for the U.S. Senate.
In a statement released on Monday, Andrew Benson, the U.S. attorney for the District of Maine, said people have the right to protest, but not turn to violence, and seemed to indicate a DHS operation was coming.
“In the coming days, if Maine citizens seek to exercise their rights to assemble and protest, it is vital that these protests remain peaceful,” Benson said. “Anyone who forcibly assaults or impedes a federal law enforcement officer, willfully destroys government property, or unlawfully obstructs federal law enforcement activity commits a federal crime and will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
There was no immediate comment from Mills on the ICE operation in Maine. But in a Jan. 14 video statement released on social media, Mills said she and members of her administration had unsuccessfully attempted to glean any information about the federal government’s enforcement plans in her state.
Mills said the state was taking proactive steps to prepare for the immigration crackdown.
“I have directed the Maine State Police to work closely with local law enforcement as necessary, to provide whatever support is needed in advance of and during any potential federal operations,” Mills said.
She said her administration had also been in contact with city officials in Portland and Lewiston, the largest cities in Maine, as well as the state attorney general, “to coordinate our response.”
“If any operations take place, our goal as always will be to protect the safety and the rights of the people of Maine,” Mills said. “Look, Maine knows what good law enforcement looks like because our law enforcement are held to high professional standards, they undergo substantial professional training, and they are accountable to the law. And I’ll tell you this, they don’t wear a mask to shield their identities, and they don’t arrest people in order to fill a quota.”
Mills said she fully supported the right for the people of her state to protest, as long as they do so peacefully.
She also directed a message to the federal government.
“If your plan is to come here to be provocative and to undermine the civil rights of Maine residents, do not be confused. Those tactics are not welcome here,” she said.
Lewiston Mayor Carl Sheline slammed ICE in a statement on Wednesday, saying the agency’s “terror and intimidation tactics reflect a complete lack of humanity and concern for basic human welfare.”
“These masked men with no regard for the rule of law are causing long-term damage to our state and to our country,” Sheline said. “Lewiston stands for the dignity of all the people who call Maine home. We will never stop caring for our neighbors.”
