2 Elderly Women In Milton And Arlington Targeted For Scams
MILTON (CBS) -- Local police are warning residents about scammers active in the area looking to cheat victims out of big money.
In Milton, a grandmother is out more than $13,000 after a scammer falsely convinced her he was her grandson and needed cash.
"He said 'Nana I'm in trouble I'm in Cancun and I hit a woman's car and she wants the money now to have it repaired,'" she said. "He said 'I need you to not tell anyone, not even Mom and Dad.'"
So she went to the bank, and withdrew the cash. She said one of the scammers actually came to her home to pick up the cash.
"I said 'Now when I give you this money you'll see that my son gets taken to the airport?' And they said 'Absolutely.' The next morning they called and asked for more money."
She did not pay more money and eventually did let her family know. Now Milton police are investigating, but at this point, the money is gone.
In Arlington there is a similar story. An elderly woman was nearly scammed out of her $20,000. Luckily, Arlington police were able to help her recover that money.
Police said she got a phone call Thursday from someone saying her social security number had been stolen. They told her to mail all her money to the west coast so they could so they could issue her a new number and account. When she went to withdraw the money, police said her bank tried to warn her.
"Santander bank actually spoke with her and said you may be victim of fraud, but she was told by people taking her money that if she got questioned to tell them it was for home improvements," said Arlington Police Lieutenant Bryan Gallagher.
The woman did mail the money but then called the police. Officers teamed up with UPS and were able to track it down in Watertown.
"No one will ever call you looking to withdraw money from a bank, all the funds you have, and send them to some place you don't know," Gallagher said.
He said everyone should be on their guard.
"Clearly these people who do these scams are very good at what they do," Gallagher said. "Just like you and I have a job every day this is their job every day. So they may make a hundred phone calls in one day and if they can just get one victim out of the hundred phone calls that they make, that's their score for the day."
