District Attorney Helps Elderly Woman Recover $9,800 from Scammer

Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas announced Monday that her office helped a Garden City woman recover $9,800 after it was stolen from her in a "grandparent scam."

The grandparent scam is a common phone hoax in which the caller claims that an elderly person’s grandchild is in trouble, typically in a foreign country, and that money is needed to release the grandchild from custody.

“These despicable scams target elderly residents and exploit their love for their grandchildren to steal thousands of dollars from unsuspecting victims,” Singas said. “I’m glad we were able to help the victim.”

Singas said that in December 2015, the 86-year-old woman received a call from a man claiming to be Officer Steve Blair. The swindler told her that her grandson was involved in a car crash in the Dominican Republic and was awaiting a hearing at the United States Embassy. The caller also instructed the victim to deposit $9,800 into a Bank of America account immediately to pay for damage to the vehicle and to avoid any “trouble.”

After making the deposit, the victim called her son to tell him what happened. He told his mother that her grandson was, in fact, fine and not in the Dominican Republic and to report the theft to the authorities. After the woman returned to the bank, the branch manager quickly made arrangements to freeze the $9,800 deposited.

Bank security advised the Garden City Police Department that the account would remain frozen for 50 years and the bank needed a court order to return the money to the victim. Through further investigation, it was learned that the Bank of America account had been opened in the name of “Bennard Johnson” with an address in Sugarland, Texas, and a forged Ghanaian passport as identification – a common tactic used in these types of frauds.

The NCDA learned the address for Bennard Johnson was a P.O. Box no longer in use. An application was made to the court and the judge signed an order directing Bank of America to return the money to the woman. The law has never been used in a case in which no perpetrator was arrested.

“We used a section of law that we believe, has never before been used for this purpose,” Singas said. “Often by the time a person realizes they’ve been targeted, it’s too late and the money is gone.”

Here are some tips to avoid becoming the victim of a grandparent scam or phone scam:

• You should be wary anytime someone calls claiming your grandchild has been arrested or was in a car accident and asks you to wire them money.
• Ask questions that are difficult to answer, like what is the name of a person’s pet or what is their mother’s date of birth.
• Immediately call your grandchild and other family to verify whether there is a true emergency before you wire any money.
• If you do receive a call, take the caller’s return phone number and also the phone number on the caller ID.
• Avoid putting personal information, like vacation or other travel plans on social media sites.
• Grandparent scam calls often come during school breaks and during the summer, times when a grandparent would believe a grandchild might be traveling
• If you’ve been scammed, contact the money transfer service immediately to report the scam. The money can be retrieved if it has not been picked up yet.

Photo: Shutterstock.