SSFPD Media Release: Phone Scam & Elder Abuse

South San Francisco, CA    April 25, 2014   Submitted by SSFPD SSFPD logo

Between April 14, 2014 and April 17, 2014, an elderly victim received several phones calls from a male subject, who claimed to be her grandson. The subject advised he had been arrested in Mexico and needed several thousands of dollars to be bailed out of jail. He then swore her to secrecy to avoid shame from the rest of the family.

Another male also called the victim, claiming he was from the US Embassy.   This accomplice claimed to know about the arrest and told the victim to send bail money immediately.  This subject directed the victim to withdraw money from her bank, and to obtain a Moneygram from a local pharmacy.

The victim completed the transactions and sent the money. The victim only later realized she had been the victim of a scam, when she contacted her actual grandson at his residence. There, she confirmed he had never been in Mexico.

Telephone scams targeting the elderly are being reported more frequently. Any persons who receive such phone calls, are encouraged to notify the police immediately.

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Tahany Vega
Tahany Vega
10 years ago

I am actually glad to see this post. A man recently tried to scam me, but did not succeed as I did not fall for it. I have his information, I am not sure how to report him. I am sure he is a professional scammer. He contacted me with the intent to buy AVOn producs from me, and sent me a check with a big amount of money, hoping that I would send him his change, obviously I did not fall for it. I however, wanted to report the person. I don’t know if anything can be fone. I suspect that man also does this type of scams with other people. I don’t know if anything can be done, but If It can, I would gladly provide all the info I have from him.