At 73, Grandmother Helps Police To Outwit Scammers Posing As Her Grandson Asking For $8,000 Bail

On January 20, 2022, a grandmother from Seaford, New York, received a weird call from someone. The person on the other end of the telephone claimed to be one of her grandsons and needed assistance and money immediately. The individual said that he was in jail and that he needed tens of thousands of dollars to get out.

The whole thing turned out to be a ruse. Unfortunately, the elderly are frequently subjected to situations like this.

According to the FBI, this is referred to as elderly fraud, and it describes how thieves acquire their targets’ trust in order to defraud them financially. Senior citizens are the most common targets, as they are more trusting and polite, and are more likely to be persuaded by the rehearsed scammers.

After receiving a phone call from someone pretending to be her grandchild, Jean, a grandma from Long Island, realized she was being conned almost instantly. Rather than hanging up, she decided to go through with the con artist’s scheme.

In the interim, she made a point of contacting the cops.

Jean formed her own scheme and pretended to get the money together as she prepared to see the second scammer, who purported to be a bail bondsman, after several conversations back and forth between the scammers. She had the cops on standby for the meeting as well. The grandma was able to outsmart the would-be burglars, and she has since shared her experience in the hopes of alerting others to possible frauds.

A 73-year-old grandmother was on the verge of being a victim of a financial fraud, but she intervened. According to CBS2, Jean received a phone call from someone claiming to be her grandson, as well as a call from his lawyer, alleging that he had been detained for drunk driving and needed money for bail.

“I had a feeling he was a real con artist,” Jean stated. “I had a feeling he wasn’t going to con me.” Jean immediately realized she was being conned when the man mentioned he had been arrested for drunk driving. None of her grandsons drive. She, on the other hand, decided to go along with it and agreed to meet the person on the phone to give him $8,000 in bail.

“I told him I had the money in the house,” the grandmother explained, “and I figured he wouldn’t fall for that.” “Well, hook, line, and sinker, he fell for it.” Jean also made a point of calling the cops.

Later, a man impersonating a bail bondsman appeared to collect the funds, and Jean handed him an envelope stuffed with paper towels. Two officers moved quickly to seize the man and take him into jail as he began walking away. Joshua Estrella Gomez was arrested and charged with attempted grand larceny in the third degree, according to CBS2. He will be arraigned on Feb. 3, 2022.

Jean has been sharing her tale and her “gotcha” moment ever since to urge others to be vigilant. According to CBS2, police also advise calling them before setting up any sort of meeting with someone you suspect of being a scammer.