By COLlive reporter
A frightening and troubling incident occurred to a Crown Heights resident on Tuesday, and his family wishes to warn all residents to avoid a similar fate.
The elderly Lubavitcher man, who lives in Crown Heights, received a phone call on Tuesday which filled him with fear.
A man on the phone told him, “We have your grandson [using his full name] and we will not let him go until you pay us $10,000 in cash.”
They told the 80-year-old grandfather that they took hold of his grandson after he struck a pregnant woman while driving. The woman had lost her baby due to her injuries, they stated.
“They said she would not press charges if he would pay $10,000,” a relative of the grandfather told COLlive.com.
The caller then transferred the phone to the “grandson” who began pleading with the grandfather, whom he called “Zaidy,” to help him out and pay the ransom. The young man also begged him not to tell his parents, that he didn’t want them to know.
The caller then got back on the phone and threatened that if the elderly man told anyone in the family or the police, they would press charges and he would be arrested.
Terrified about the fate of his grandson, the grandfather immediately borrowed the full amount of money. He called them back and provided his address for pick up.
A man soon showed up at his door, whom he describes as “Italian” looking, and grabbed the money from him. He then ran quickly away from the house on foot.
When the grandfather called his grandson, the youngster had no idea what he was talking about. The call was a scam.
“The house doesn’t have surveillance cameras, so we have no way of identifying him,” the family told COLlive.com. “We want to warn everyone to be extra vigilant, do not make any payments to anyone before confirming that the request is legitimate.”
They also say that people should warn their parents and elderly relatives of this scam, and explain to them how it works.
“We have heard of this happening in other neighborhoods in New York, and in Miami as well,” they said.
a few years ago saying that they had my brother at gunpoint, so I called my brother from another line and he had no idea what I was talking about. so I hung up
I don’t understand why they can’t find the thief? To me, it seems really simple. First, you identify the phone with which the thief called the grandfather. He may have blocked his number, in which case you’d have to subpoena your service provider for that number. Alternatively, he used a spoofing technology, in which case you subpoena to service provider of the number which was displayed on the grandfather’s caller ID for the spoofing company used. Then you subpoena the spoofing company for the ip address and mac address of the device used by the thief to spoof the call.… Read more »
It’s called a BURNER PHONE. Someone paid $50 at Walmart and bought a phone with cash and then used it to call this guy. It’s literally not traceable. He threw it out after he got paid $10k!
Burner phone
It happened to my father who lives in the Midwest as well. ברוך השם he understood it was a scam and hung up on them even though they had the exact names of my children!
Why didn’t the grandfather call his grandson before he paid them?
because he comes from a world where this did not happen….and he was terrified..they knew the names…and it seems nobody had told him to beware of this kind of setup. A caring ,terrified grandfather. He didn’t think of calling his grandson because it sounded real…..
for the same reason you didn’t think before you wrote your post
THE OPOSITE!!! THINK HOW MUCH A LOVING ZEDIE WOULD DO EVERYTHING FOR HIS GRANDSON!!!!!!!!!!! HE DID NOT HAVE TIME TO THINK AND RETHINK, IMAGINE IF YOUR SON OR RELATIVE WAS IN DANGER, WHAT WOULD YOU DO?
Don’t believe anything you get in unsolicited phone calls, emails or text messages.
ask them
same thing happened to me. some one called up and told me they have my mother had gunpoint, and actually knew her name. I told them, its ok they can kill her and hung up…I happened to have lost my mother three years before…..
Joking aside, it was very scary to hear that from a stranger….i can only imagine if they called about a child or another loved one that you dont know where they actually are.
A bit like when the hospital called about having a vaccine – to speak to my grandmother 2 months after she died.
As much as I miss her, I started laughing hysterically!!
Ive heard lf this happenning before. Call the bank and explain the situation and they may reimburse you.
If u read the article, you may have seen that it says:
A man soon showed up at his door, whom he describes as “Italian” looking, and grabbed the money from him. He then ran quickly away from the house on foot.
Next time read the article 🙂
From the story it seems to have been a cash transaction.
my parent in crown heights had a similar story. boruch hashem the child “who was about to be arrested” and was “begging not to tell anyone” walked into the home to visit while the story was happening.
Kibud av saved him.
All the information scammers need is on Facebook. In Australia I get 2 phone calls every single day from scammers pretending to be from the tax office, Microsoft, telephone company etc etc. If not sure, ask them for their phone number and call them back. They will hang up straight away.
Why is it that the elderly who are supposed to be more wise than the rest of us, yet they are the most vulnerable to these scams?!?
You got to be really gullible.
I think you’re forgetting the fact that older people were raised in a time that the only people that had your phone number were people that you gave it to, your family and anyone with access to a phone book. That said this has nothing to do with the wisdom or being gullible this literally just has to do with the fact that older people came from a different generation. I mean let’s just take this in to consideration the fact that a phone call 50 years ago wasn’t something you did for free or for fun it cost a… Read more »
I believe these scammers get info from public records (i.e. voting records that give age) to target people 80+. The exact thing happened to my grandmother. They used the nickname of the grandson that is not on any legal documents. Which leads me to believe they had been listening in to conversations. It was the exact same technique. Call and claim to be police chief and said grandson was in Dominican Republic and gave the same shpiel. Put grandson on phone, and when she said it doesn’t sound like him, he said he was in accident and his whole face… Read more »
This happened to my grandmother just a few months ago. She went for it. She started to collect $ from ppl. But then was saved by a grandchild living with her who told her to call her grandson who was in trouble, first. Scammers do a good job. You don’t need to be gullible to fall for such a thing. Awareness helps though.