By Gus Saltonstall
An Upper West Side grandmother was scammed out of nearly $10,000 by a person pretending to be her grandson, police said on Wednesday.
On Aug. 23, a 78-year-old woman was in her apartment at West 62nd Street, when she received a call from a man pretending to be her grandson stating that he needed $9,500 for bail money, police said.
The scam artist said he would send a courier to pick up the money the next day, which the woman agreed to, police said.
A man arrived the following day in a white Toyota with a New York plate reading T753385C, NYPD noted. The 78-year-old Upper West Sider was able to snap a picture of the man with her cellphone, which she then submitted to the NYPD, police said.
Authorities described the suspect as 25 to 35 years old.
Anyone with information in regard to this incident is asked to call the NYPD’s CrimeStoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782).
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Hopefully, he is the one that’s going to need $9,500 for bail real soon!
In New York dream on, Grand Larceny is not bail eligible, he will be out in hours and that will be it. Bragg does not want to put people in jail, he ran on that it was on his website during the election he didn’t hide it
Yes, third degree grand larceny is a nonviolent offense that, by itself, is not bail eligible. Jailing someone indefinitely *before trial* for that offense ruins lives *and* costs the taxpayers ridiculous sums.
I’m going to point out yet again that *not being put in jail before you’re even convicted* does not mean you won’t go to jail. It just means you won’t go to jail until you plead guilty or are convicted by a jury of your peers. You know, like the Constitution says?
But you have no answer to what to do when these no bail people don’t go to court. They ever show up . Ruins lives? What about the crime victims? What about them?
Exactly.
That’s one of the most myopic comments I regularly come across about Bragg.
Per the wizards at the lookup site “howsmydrivingny.nyc”, this plate (“T753385C”) is associated with over $5,000 in tickets, and is *currently* “in judgement” for a thousand. Hence, if the cops/sanitation/whole bunches of other tax supported agencies did their jobs, this car would have long ago been towed away.
(Likely uninsured, too, but can’t easily check).
So much for the “broken windows” path of police work.
License plates are removed in minutes and replaced. You can bet that every night when this car is parked the plate is removed; so no, the agencies will not find the car. Scam artists have to be caught in the act; otherwise it’s hearsay. You could point to anyone and claim the person scammed you. There has to be a trail of forensic or documented evidence. The photo of the perp is what is valuable. He will be outed by someone who knows him, because reward money does that. There is no honor among thieves. The police almost always get their man. It’s the justice system that has to hold him. That’s who drops the ball.
I’ve had elderly friends defrauded with similar scams. Do your elderly relatives and friends a favor by sharing this article. It happens and these criminals are good at what they do. If your friend or relative has a question as to the authenticity of such a request for money, suggest that they immediately contact you. Chances are a quick Google search will expose the exact type of scam.
Older people–especially when they think they are helping family members–are especially vulnerable.
A good rule of thumb is that any time you feel like you’re being rushed to give money to someone, you should sloooooow down. For most people living normal lives, it’s not going to make a difference whether you give someone money now or twelve hours from now. Tell them you need to think about it. Then call a friend and talk it over.
If they ask for giftcards, it’s a scam.
If they ask for a Western Union or Venmo, it’s a scam.
If they’re sending a courier, it’s a scam.
I’m a little confused. She apparently suspected something was fishy if she took a photo of his license plate, right? Then why fork over the dough? I am NOT victim-blaming; I’m just curious.
Meanwhile, someone should nab this scamming scum, dress up like a grandma, and smack him upside the worthless head 9,500 times.
Petra, she just took a picture of the license plate of the courier. If I was handing money over to someone, I would ask for ID also.
It’s very scary to be in the situation.
I got a phone call from someone pretending to be my son saying “Mom, Mom…. ”
And then another individual ( maybe it was the same person?) got on the phone and said he needed money.
I told him I was calling the FBI and hung up.
Here’s the kicker, though, he did sound like my son. And I had to call my son and verify that he was OK.
All too true. However, many elderly, despite their education or IQ, get nervous when confronted with pleas from loved ones. SHARE THESE STORIES WITH ELDERLY RELATIVES AND FRIENDS TO SENSITIZE THEM TO THE POSSIBILITY OF SCAMS.
This is very sad. The elderly should be entitled to live a comfortable life at the end of their years, not be screwed over like this.
Thank you West Side Rag for posting.
Please share this with anyone who is a parent or a grandparent.
People often rush to judgment when family is involved to help them out, and this shows how there sadly should be a pause.
One of my coworkers got an email from a colleague saying he wasn’t very technically minded and he was having trouble sending an Amazon gift card to his niece for her birthday. He asked her to use her account and order it for him. He even added a birthday note. After she sent him the confirmation he replied and asked if she’d mind sending another one to his nephew. By the time she got the second email Amazon had already flagged her account and stopped the first transaction and blocked any future transactions. I have since discovered that the colleague’s entire address book had been hacked and everyone I knew (including myself) was getting these emails. Not only does it compromise your email but also any online accounts. : (
The same scammer was close to getting me, another older woman, when giving him my account numbers was one step too far. How I got beyond the first sentence of the scamming email is beyond me. It turned out that everyone in my friend’s address book received the same email from the same scammer.
It’s a shame people don’t join or at least read the AARP emails and website, or in the case of older people who are not able, that someone else do it for them. There’s a ton of information on scams, security, responding to phone solicitations, etc.
I recently saw a news story regarding the potential of scammers using AI to mimic someone’s voice. The report suggested setting up a code word with your family members. Should a call be received similar to the call received by the Grandma in this story, insist on the code word being provided. Yes, it takes some time in advance but it would help minimize this kind of scam being successful.
One of the latest scams, frequently targeting older people.
Why? Grandkids. Money saved. No smarts about these kinds of crimes. Trusting. Concerned about family.
We hear a familiar voice but it’s in trouble, needs bail money. Ask a few questions you know answer to: grandson should know names of parents, pet at home/pet he had as a kid, something no other person but you two will know & not likely posted on social media, anything really personal shared with you & no one else or few in the family.
The moment you hear “bail money” hang up fast & call: 1) NYPD, 2) telephone service provider, 3) complain to FCC online – fill out online form.
So sorry it happened. Going to happen again. SM & Internet make us believe everything we see, hear, read. Be skeptical. If you insult someone – too bad. Protect yourself. It’s never too late to learn – too sadly.
I once hung up on my own grandson because I thought he was a scammer. I knew about this scam for years and have hung up several times.
Our mom is 89 now and lives alone. We (as well as our children) all know the ‘secret’ question that she’s to slip in if she receives a weird call from any one of us, given the capabilities of AI (it’s not science fiction anymore) and it’s ability to use audio programming to mimic any voice it has a sample file of. That scam has already been used out there. The question is somewhat nonsensical, as is the response so it would be impossible to give the proper answer unless it was actually one of us. Where would the scammer get the sample file? If for example you post a YouTube video, a Tik Tok, etc and speak there’s the sample for anyone to grab.
You’re obviously not 89…perception and mental abilities change as you age. These scammers are very clever and practiced. I’ve witnessed several intelligent and seemingly lucid elderly friends duped. Continued vigilance is necessary.
The Detectives’ Endowment Association, Inc. would like to remind everyone to be aware of phone, text, and email scams asking for bail or other monies for relatives in a jam. These calls from spoofed phone numbers are scam artists looking to bilk the elderly of cash. One of our NYPD Undercover Detectives recently oversaw the culmination of a multi-year, international investigation into a bail scam targeting elderly members of the NYC community, like this woman. These scammers operated out of call centers in the Dominican Republic. More than 100 perpetrators were arrested, and millions in cash, property, vehicles, and weapons were seized by authorities. That’s why we call our members “The Greatest Detectives in the World!” REMEMBER: The police will never demand cash to be mailed or wired for bail.