Rockville Centre woman sends $20,000 to phone scammer

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Falling victim to what has become a nationwide trend, a Rockville Centre woman wired $20,000 earlier this month to an unknown man who called her, claiming that her grandson was arrested and needed bail money, according to police. The woman later found out that her grandson had not been arrested.

The woman, who Rockville Centre police did not identify, was contacted on Feb. 8 by someone in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., claiming to be a court liaison. She panicked and followed his instructions, according to Inspector Glenn Quinn, transferring money from her Chase Bank account to a Wells Fargo account in Pensacola, Fla., but the caller could not

be traced.

After the phone call, the woman contacted her grandson and realized the previous call was a scam. She cancelled the transaction through Wells Fargo. Quinn told the Herald it was unknown whether or not the money was sent.

These types of phone scams are common, Quinn noted. Sometimes the scammer will claim to have kidnapped a loved one, he explained, asking for ransom money — or even iTunes gift cards — or pretend to be an Internal Revenue Service official.

Last year, a report by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration found that more than 10,000 victims of phone scams have collectively paid more than $54 million because of the scams since October 2013. Both figures have nearly doubled since the previously reported year.

“The biggest factor is usually the victim can’t contact the person in time to realize they were scammed, and they initially comply to protect their loved one,” Quinn said. “If you are contacted by a fishy person claiming they have someone and require ransom, contact the police immediately with a different phone, as well as the someone in question, and try to get some caller information.”

Quinn added that the IRS, for example, would never call you requesting that you send money to pay a tax bill.

Last August, another unnamed woman from Rockville Centre was scammed over the phone. She sent $8,000 to a man pretending to be her grandson, claiming he was arrested in New Jersey and requesting the bail money through Visa

gift cards.

Rockville Centre Police Commissioner Charles Gennario recalled an instance when a man flagged down a Rockville Centre police officer while in his car. The officer followed the man to Baldwin, where he told the officer, “They’ve got my son.” It turned out the man’s son was at school, not with the unknown person on the phone, who was trying to get the man to send money.

“They’re going to tell you, ‘Don’t contact the police,’ and sometimes they’re going to say they’re a police department, we just arrested your son and he needs $3,000,” Gennario told the Herald. “We don’t do things that way.”

The key, he added, is for people receiving a phone call like that to slow down the situation. “Make up some kind of excuse,” Gennario advised. “Say, ‘I’ll get you the money, I’ll call you back,’ and then immediately call us.”