Accused scammer gets chocolate coins instead of $700K in gold

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — After being told her Social Security funds were supporting terrorism, a widow was directed to buy $700,000 in gold — but an alert store owner intervened before crooks could make off with her money, records show. A young man, who was reportedly sent to Michigan from Illinois to fetch the gold, ended up with a bag of chocolate coins and a pair of 20-year felonies instead. “They didn’t know they were getting chocolate gold coins,” said Ben Soldaat, owner of Grand Rapids Coins, who alerted authorities to the suspected scam in early May. “It just...