Score one for the good guys: Police thwart phone scam, return money to victim
Police were able to re-route the $8,500 in the mail at the last minute.
Ted CzechIt's a phone scam that has received a lot of publicity over the past few years, but if it wasn't working, people wouldn't be doing it, right?
It goes something like this: A scam artist targets an elderly victim, finds out the name of a younger relative, like a grandson or niece, then impersonates that person in a phone call.
The scammer spins a tale of woe about a late-night arrest, sometimes in a foreign or back-country locale, and closes with a plea for bail money.
The Federal Trade Commission calls it the "family emergency scam" while others have dubbed it the "grandparent scam."
With heart-strings firmly pulled and time running out, the concerned victim wires the money. At some point, the victim realizes tomfoolery is afoot, but by then, it's usually too late.
Usually. But in a recent case spearheaded by Southern Regional Police, a resourceful officer was able to engineer a -turn on the money at the last minute.
Scammer sounded like nephew
On Monday, an elderly Shrewsbury man received a call from someone claiming to be his nephew.
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"The male caller was to be incarcerated and needed bail money," police said. "The male caller provided a phone number for his alleged attorney. The victim stated that he truly believed that the caller was his nephew by sounding like him."
The "attorney" told the victim to send $8,500. In a curious twist, the victim was directed to send the money through "snail-mail" to New Hampshire and not the by the faster route of wiring it.
In addition, the scammers really tried to cover all their bases, dictating a narrative for the man to repeat in case anyone was alarmed by the money.
"The victim was also instructed that if anyone who ask him about the cash withdraw amount, he was to tell them it was for contracting work being performed," police said.
Package diverted
Southern Regional Police first became aware of the scam when another relative found out about the phone call. An officer contacted the family and was brought up to speed on the details.
The officer got on the phone, making calls to stop the delivery. He reached the delivery service, hoping to replace the shipping order with a new one to send the package back.
It crossed the New Hampshire border, but the officer was contacted and the package was redirected back to the victim, police said.
"The money was returned to the victim without further incident," police said. "We encourage that the public speak to their elderly parents about these scams and what not to fall victim to. Fortunately this outcome was a positive one."
Ted Czech is a multi-platform crime/emergency journalist with The York Daily Record. He can be reached at tczech@ydr.com, at 717-771-2033 or on Twitter at @TedCzechYDR