LIVERMORE — Police here are investigating scammers who were able to trick their victims into believing calamitous, life-ruining scenarios to trick them out of large sums of money.

In one instance, a local man was swindled out of $1.1 million and he never saw it coming. Convinced by a phone scammer that his social security number was compromised after turning up in a child pornography investigation, the man willing purchased gold bars with his $401k and life savings, turned the gold over to a courier, then waited by the phone for a follow-up call from the scammer who never came, authorities said.

Another Livermore man sincerely believed his grandson had crashed his car and badly hurt a pregnant lady, and was in the process of turning over thousands to a scam artist, when he contacted his son and learned no such crash had occurred, authorities said.

The first scam started with a call from a woman who identified herself as a government official and told the victim his social security number had been stolen and used by someone to purchase child pornography. The bottom line, explained the woman, was that the man needed to transfer all of his assets into cold, hand them over to a courier, then wait for a call and instructions on how to set up a new 401k with a new social security card, authorities said.

With the scammer’s assistance, the man underwent all of these steps. He drained $1.1 million from his accounts, bought gold bars, confirmed receipt of the packages, waited for two different couriers to come receive two packages of gold, then willingly handed them over. It was only several weeks later, when no call ever came from the woman, that he realized something was amiss, authorities said.

In the second instance, last February, a man was told his son had hurt a pregnant woman in the crash and the baby had died. He withdrew $12,000 — ostensibly to pay for legal and hospital fees — and was ready with the cash when his son explained to him no car crash had occurred and his grandson was fine. Police were able to make contact with the scammer, who identified himself as a public defender, but quickly realized they were talking to a cop and terminated the call, authorities said.

No arrests have been announced in either case.