Denver Police arrested three men suspected of committing theft by deception after an attempted scam to sell fake gold failed.
The three thieves contacted the victim and asked if she could translate a note written in classic Chinese writing. The victim agreed and met the suspects.
The men, dressed in construction clothing, told the victim they had discovered a wooden box while breaking ground at a construction site and that inside they found a note, old Chinese coins, paper currency and gold ingots.
The note, which the victim translated, proported to be the last Will and Testament of a man who lived in Denver many years ago. It instructed the finder of the box to locate and give half the contents to his son and the finder would keep the rest.
The men attempted to persuade the woman into selling the gold ingots herself for about $180,000 and then splitting the money with the men.
The woman became suspicious and called police.
The three men — Dejun Xu, 45, Yawen Yang, 46, and Fuyan Li, 42 — were arrested without incident.
They are being held for investigation of attempted theft and forgery.
If you have information regarding this incident or are a victim of this type of crime, please contact the Denver Police Department at 720-913-2000 or call Crime Stoppers at 720-913-STOP (7867).
Similar scams have been reported successful in Canada, Houston, Los Angeles, and New York.
