Police said a 70-year-old Hicksville woman wired $919,200 before a demand for $300,000 in gold led to a sting operation.
HICKSVILLE, NY — A Queens woman has been arrested in connection with an alleged scam in which a 70-year-old Hicksville resident wired $919,200 after callers told her she was tied to a crime in India, Nassau County police said.
Fnu Tierigeli, 32, of Woodside, was arrested Sept. 2 and charged with attempted grand larceny in the second degree. Authorities said the arrest followed a new demand that the victim buy another $300,000 in gold bars and coins. Tierigeli has pleaded not guilty. The publicly announced charge concerns the attempted gold transaction, and authorities have not announced that Tierigeli was charged with taking the earlier $919,200 in wire transfers.
Police said the case began when the Hicksville woman received a phone call telling her she had become involved in a criminal matter in India and needed to withdraw money to resolve it. Between June 29 and July 27, she withdrew and wired a total of $919,200, according to investigators with the Nassau County Police Department.
Reports citing court documents said the caller claimed to be connected to the Delhi Police Department in India. The victim was allegedly told the payments were needed because of the supposed criminal investigation. Authorities have not publicly identified all of the people believed to have participated in the scheme or said where the earlier wire transfers ultimately went.
The victim was contacted again Sept. 1 and told to obtain an additional $300,000 in gold bars and coins, police said. According to reports citing court records, she was told that a CIA agent would collect the gold and examine it as part of the supposed investigation. At that point, police said, the woman realized she was being scammed and contacted authorities.
Investigators then arranged a sting operation in Hicksville. Court documents cited by News 12 said detectives prepared a bag containing fake gold bars that would have been worth about $284,650 if they were real. An undercover detective took part in the planned exchange.
Authorities alleged that the person arriving to collect the package was expected to use a prearranged code based on the serial number of a dollar bill. Police said Tierigeli provided the matching code and accepted the bag from the undercover detective. She was arrested at about 5 p.m. without incident.
Tierigeli was arraigned in Nassau First District Court in Hempstead and pleaded not guilty to the attempted grand larceny charge, according to published reports. Police have not publicly said whether any of the $919,200 previously wired by the victim has been recovered. No additional defendants had been publicly identified in connection with the case as of the latest available reports.
Nassau County police said the investigation remains focused on the alleged fraud and urged anyone who believes they may have been targeted by a similar scheme to contact the department’s Fraud and Forgery Section. Investigators have not announced whether further arrests or charges are expected.
Author note: Last updated September 7, 2026.