A suspect was charged with stealing more than $600,000 in gold and about $91,000 in cash from a 74-year-old man, Lehigh County District Attorney Gavin P. Holihan and Whitehall Township Police Chief Michael Marks announced Friday.

Hirtik Hemchand Khatri, 24, of Lawrence Township, New Jersey, is charged with theft by unlawful taking, theft by deception, theft by extortion and receiving stolen property, all first-degree felonies; and conspiracy to commit theft by deception and criminal use of a communication facility, both third-degree felonies.

Khatri was arrested Wednesday in New Jersey and is awaiting extradition to Pennsylvania.

On Feb. 3, Whitehall Township police were contacted by a 74-year-old man whose name will not be released.

He told police he had been involved in a lengthy scam that resulted in a financial loss of $688,372 that began with an inquiry emailed to him about an allegedly fraudulent charge on his PayPal transaction.

The email stated a charge of $499.99 had been made to the man’s PayPal account, and when he called to say he didn’t make the charge, the scam began.

A man who identified himself as “David Wilson” said that he would reimburse the 74-year-old, but then said he had accidentally reimbursed him $49,999 instead of the original disputed amount.

That began a lengthy scam in which the 74-year-old was told he would be responsible for the error and needed to repay PayPal.

He was ordered to withdraw $50,000 in cash and transfer it into Bitcoin, which the man did by going to an area gas station with a Bitcoin kiosk to complete the transaction.

The man said that between Jan. 8 and Jan. 10, he completed eight separate transactions at Bitcoin kiosks totaling $42,000.

After the transfers, the scam continued with another call saying PayPal had accidentally reimbursed the 74-year-old $350,000 instead of $350.

He was told to withdraw $40,000 in cash and deposit it into the Bitcoin kiosk and also directed to purchase $300,000 in gold. The man was also told a “password” to provide when the gold was picked up.

The 74-year-old was told that if the reimbursements weren’t made, police would come and arrest him. The man said he was in fear of going to jail and on Jan. 14, made several other Bitcoin transfers totaling $32,260.

On Jan. 22, the man said he withdrew funds from his IRA and purchased 108 gold bars for $297,540. He then made contact with “David Wilson,” who told him that someone from PayPal would arrive at his home to pick up the gold.

The 74-year-old told police a man arrived at his home in a Mercedes-Benz and picked up the gold. The investigation later determined the man to be Khatri.

The victim said that a few days later, he was again contacted by the same “David Wilson” who told him there had been an error in processing the payment and the man needed to purchase more gold.

He again purchased more gold, totaling $298,867, on Jan. 28 from an online retailer.

On Jan. 30, the 74-year-old said Khatri again arrived at his home and picked up the second gold purchase. The total value of the gold picked up from the man by Khatri is $596,407.

The man told police that on Feb. 3 he attempted to make contact with the person who arranged the alleged repayments, but was unable to reach him.

A license plate reader was able to identify the Mercedes-Benz that arrived at the 74-year-old’s house and the car owner was identified as Khatri. The man was also able to identify Khatri from a photo lineup.

The Lehigh County Elder Abuse Task Force has seen a growing number of fraudulent scams and anticipates that these will continue to increase and will continue to target older citizens.

Part of the reason older citizens are targeted is because they have more savings than younger people and are often easier to defraud when using new technologies like PayPal, Bitcoin and electronic transfers.

People should be suspicious of anyone who contacts you by phone and asks for large sums of money in any form.

Anyone who requests or demands large amounts of funds, especially in untraceable methods like cryptocurrency, precious metals, gift cards and cash is almost certainly part of a scam.

People should contact their local law enforcement agency or the Lehigh County Elder Abuse Task Force if they think they are the target of fraud.

The task force can be reached at 610-782-3700.

The case was investigated by Whitehall Township Police Detective Lindsay Yetter; the Lehigh County Elder Abuse Task Force; Homeland Security Investigations in Allentown and Trenton, New Jersey; Homeland Security Investigation Agent Sean Crawford; and the Lawrence Township (N.J.) Police Department. The case will be prosecuted by Senior Deputy District Attorney Ramma R. Mineo.