Scammers target the elderly because they think they’re going to be easy to swindle. However, one Long Island grandmother managed to turn the tables on a scammer when he called her up pretending to be her grandson in desperate need of bail money after a DUI arrest. Instead of hanging up the phone and calling the scammer out for what he was trying to do, the smart grandmother, 73-year-old Jean, decided to teach the criminal a lesson and make him pay for picking on the elderly.
Jean is a grandmother of seven beautiful children and lives in Seaford, New York. She knew the person calling her was not her grandson but a scammer. Instead of hanging up on the crook, she figured it would be wise to teach the man a lesson in respect and get him in trouble with the law along the way.
“He starts calling me “grandma,” and then I’m like, I don’t have a grandson that drives, so I knew it was a scam,” Jean told CBS New York.
Jean is a retired 911 operator who has dealt with a lot of different types of people throughout her career. Because she was sitting at home bored, describing herself as a “bored grandma,” she decided it would be best to teach the scammer a lesson. She invited the man to her home, where police officers were lying in wait to catch the crook red-handed.
A doorbell camera caught the dramatic moment police officers apprehend the crook. He came to the property and was handed an envelope containing cut-up pieces of paper towel, but what he thought was $8,000 in cash for bail money. In the footage, you can watch as two Nassau County police officers tackle the suspect before he manages to escape the Long Island property with the fake cash.
The elder scammer has been identified as 28-year-old Joshua Estrella Gomez from Mineola, New York. Gomez received an appearance ticket and was released from jail but was due back in court in February 2022.
The incident began on Thursday when Gomez allegedly called Jean. During the call, he pretended to be one of Jean’s grandsons and asked her to give him $8,000 to help bail him out of jail after a DUI arrest.
However, Jean’s seven grandchildren are all in elementary or middle school, which means none of them are able to drive a car. Shortly after the first call, Jean received a second call from a man pretending to be her grandson’s lawyer, Matt Levine, who told her that he was able to come to pick up the $8,000 cash for the bail. Then, Jean received a third call from someone pretending to be her grandson’s bail bondsman, telling Jean that he was in her area and available to pick up the cash.
“I told him I had the money in the house, and I figured he’s not going to fall for that. Well, he fell for that hook, line, and sinker,” Jean told CBS New York.
“Bored grandma 1, bad guy 0,” Jean told NBC New York with a laugh.