A Texan was arrested Friday in a sting to combat a tech support scam.
Elon Harper, 27, of Dallas was charged with theft by deception, according to Corey Huntress, the deputy chief of the Saco Police Department.
Harper was acting as a courier who came to Saco on Friday to collect an undisclosed amount of gold from a resident but found himself ensnared by Saco police and FBI agents, Huntress said Monday.
In the scam, scammers masquerade as tech support to try to convince the victim that hackers have accessed their computers, cellphones, bank accounts and other personal information. Then they usually try to get the victim to withdraw money from their bank account to “protect it” by either moving it to a “safe” account or converting it to gold. Often a courier then comes to collect the money or gold, according to Huntress.
Harper was being held at the York County Jail in Alfred on $250,000 bail. He was scheduled to appear in court on March 18, 2026.