Woman scammed out of $1.5M after calling about TV captions

Police say a Goodyear woman was steered from a bogus help number to impostors posing as federal agents, then told to hand off gold to couriers.

GOODYEAR, AZ — A 28-year-old man is jailed on money laundering charges after an elderly Goodyear woman was defrauded of more than $1 million in a months-long scheme that began when she sought help fixing closed captioning on her Roku television, police said Friday.

Authorities said the case underscores how routine tech frustrations can be exploited by organized fraud networks. The woman’s losses, reported this month, followed a string of calls from people who claimed to work first for a television platform and then for a federal agency. The arrest was announced Jan. 16 as detectives described an ongoing investigation into cash and gold transfers arranged through couriers in the Phoenix area. The suspect’s bond was set at $500,000 cash. Investigators said the case remains open as they analyze financial records and look for others who may have handled the money.

According to police, the trouble started in June when the woman searched online for a customer service number to fix closed captioning on her TV. The number she found was not legitimate. A caller identifying himself as “John” told her her streaming account was being used by several people in multiple states. The woman was transferred to someone who introduced himself as “Kevin” from a federal agency and insisted her accounts were compromised. Detectives said the scammers persuaded her to install a program on her computer that gave them access to personal information, and then escalated the pressure, warning of audits and arrest if she did not follow instructions. “A lot of times it’ll start on one device, and then they move you to secondary communication — that right there should be the first red flag,” Goodyear police spokesperson Sgt. Mayra Reeson said.

Over more than six months, investigators said, the victim was directed to make eight high-dollar purchases of gold, averaging about $200,000 each. After each purchase or bank withdrawal, the callers told her to take photos of the cash or gold, then meet couriers at set locations to hand it over. The woman complied, believing she was protecting her accounts and resolving supposed tax issues. At one point, police said, the callers claimed the Internal Revenue Service would soon audit her and that failure to cooperate could lead to arrest. “The FBI or the IRS or the local police department is not going to ask you to go to a different app to communicate with them,” Reeson said, describing a common tactic the callers allegedly used to push victims off normal channels.

The scheme began to unravel when the woman’s husband noticed unusual withdrawals, prompting questions about where their money had gone, detectives said. The couple then contacted authorities, who traced courier pickups and identified a suspect in the Phoenix area. Police announced the arrest of Rashedul Islam Mohammod, 28, in connection with the transfers. Court paperwork lists money laundering allegations tied to the cash and precious metal handoffs, according to police. Investigators said they are still working to map where the gold went after each drop. They said the calls often started with a pitch to fix a technology issue and quickly shifted to fear-based claims about taxes, audits, and legal jeopardy.

Goodyear police described the playbook as consistent with sophisticated tech-support and government-impostor scams seen across the region. In this case, callers allegedly leveraged the victim’s request for captioning help to build credibility, then rushed her through “urgent” steps. Detectives said the remote software installation gave the callers a window into accounts and personal data, allowing them to tailor threats and instructions. The victim was told to keep the handoffs secret, police said, and to photograph the cash and gold so the callers could confirm the amounts. The pickups occurred at prearranged locations around the Valley over many weeks, often coordinated on secondary messaging apps, according to investigators.

Beyond the arrest, police said their probe now focuses on the courier network and any additional handlers who may have moved the funds. Authorities are reviewing surveillance images from pickup sites and working with financial institutions to reconstruct transfers. They said the eight gold purchases, each near $200,000, account for most of the loss total; smaller withdrawals and transfers were also reported early in the scheme. Detectives are examining whether similar calls were placed to other residents using the same spoofed customer service numbers. Officials declined to say whether any of the recovered funds have been located, citing the active investigation.

The case arrives amid a wider rise in tech-support fraud complaints nationally, police noted, with schemes that begin on search engines or through pop-ups and lead to callers impersonating company staff or federal agents. In Goodyear, investigators said they have fielded more reports in the past year of residents being directed to alternative messaging platforms and told to convert savings into hard-to-trace assets such as gold. Authorities said the woman in this case was instructed to avoid banks’ anti-fraud questions by claiming the purchases were for personal reasons, a tactic detectives said aligns with patterns seen in other courier-based thefts.

After his arrest, Mohammod was booked into jail with bond set at $500,000 cash, police said. Officials did not immediately release a charging document detailing the full counts, and a court date was not listed in public summaries Friday. Investigators said additional arrests are possible as they identify couriers who allegedly collected the gold and cash. Police said they plan to brief city leaders on the trend and share case updates with regional partners tracking similar tech-support and government-impostor scams. The department also said it is coordinating with federal authorities on elements that cross state lines, including the phone routing and digital accounts that organized groups often use.

On Friday afternoon, the Goodyear Police Department repeated that legitimate agencies do not shift conversations to informal messaging apps or demand payments through unusual means. Reeson said callers in this case sought to keep pressure high and isolate the victim. “The moment something doesn’t seem right, stop and slow down,” she said, adding that investigators believe publicizing this arrest could help interrupt similar schemes. Detectives said they are preparing additional interviews and financial subpoenas while they continue to document courier stops around the Valley and confirm the total amount lost.

The suspect remained in custody late Friday as detectives reviewed hours of surveillance video and traced the route of the gold. Police said the next milestone is a preliminary court appearance expected after prosecutors file formal charges. The investigation into additional participants and recovery of assets is ongoing, with officials saying they will release updates as records become available.

Author note: Last updated January 18, 2026.