Elderly people in Queens and Brooklyn have fallen victim to two phone scammers who have ripped them off in four incidents beginning late last month, according to authorities.
The first victim was an 86-year-old man in northeast Queens, who received a phone call just after noon on Tuesday, May 31, saying that a family member was arrested and needed money for bail. One of the suspects met the victim at his home in the vicinity of 59th Avenue and 223rd Street in Bayside and collected approximately $5,000 from the senior and was last seen entering a gray Infiniti sedan, police said.
Investigators from the 111th Precinct in Bayside determined that the victim’s family member was not in any legal trouble, and the victim gave the two men the money in good faith based on false statements and promises.
The two suspects struck again on Wednesday, June 8, at a home in Brooklyn, where a 77-year-old man was duped out of nearly $11,000 in the same phone scam in the 66th Precinct.
The suspects allegedly pulled off the same scam in southeast Queens the following morning, when one of them contacted a 74-year-old woman on the phone and told her that a family member had been arrested and needed money for bail.
One of the suspects met the victim at her home in the vicinity of 91st Avenue and 212th Place in Queens Village and requested $6,800, but this time, the victim called a family member before the meeting and determined she was being scammed. The victim refused to hand over any cash and the suspect fled the scene empty-handed when the woman said she was calling the police.
The scammers struck just over an hour later back in Brooklyn when they successfully ran the same con on an 88-year-old woman at her home near 18th Avenue and 62nd Street in the 62nd Precinct. This time the suspects made off with nearly $14,000.
The NYPD released surveillance images of the two men. One suspect had tattooed arms and slicked-back dark hair and a goatee. He was wearing a white T-shirt, black shorts and red sneakers. His accomplice wore a red hooded sweatshirt and a black mask, with black shorts with a teddy bear graphic on the leg and he wore a pair of gray Crocs.
Anyone with information in regard to the identity of the suspects is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the CrimeStoppers website at nypdcrimestoppers.com, or on Twitter @NYPDTips. All calls and messages are kept confidential.
