A 71-year-old woman was nearly scammed out of more than $350,000 by two California men — who falsely identified themselves as federal agents over the phone and convinced her to buy almost $98,000 worth of gold to pay her way out of trouble — before they were arrested in a Giant Eagle parking lot by Allegheny County Police.

Daxue Yang, 35, of Monterey Park, and Shuai Jiao, 34, of Alhambra, have been charged with theft by unlawful taking, theft by deception, financial exploitation of an older adult and criminal attempt, according to court documents. Both defendants are being held in the Allegheny County Jail and have preliminary hearings scheduled for Dec. 3.

On Nov. 19, the victim received a voicemail from someone claiming to be with “Amazon’s Fraud Department,” who said that her account had been compromised, the criminal complaint said. The victim called back and was connected with a man who identified himself as a federal investigator named “Stephen.”

The agent said that the victim’s account was used to buy over $350,000 worth of firearms, narcotics and other illegal items, the complaint said. He told the victim she could “rectify” the situation, as well as keeping her assets safe, by following his instructions.

When asked, the victim admitted to having over $100,000 in her bank account and was told by Stephen to withdraw all of the funds from her account at different bank locations, the complaint said. He further told the victim she could not tell anyone about the situation, before putting her on the phone with another “agent” named Jackson Williams.