A grandmother in Seaford, New York usually hangs up the phone on suspected scammers. But she decided to do something different this time around. Jean Ebbert says she recently received a call from a man claiming to be her grandson. He said he needed $8000 because he had been in a car accident. Jean knew right away someone was trying to con her because she doesn’t have a grandson old enough to drive.
That’s when she decided to play along – not something police recommend because it can be dangerous. As it turns out the retired 911 dispatcher had a trick or two up her sleeve. She recounts what she did in the video below.
Jean “played the game” and contacted police ahead of the arranged pick up time so when the suspect showed up at her door posing as a bailsman, the cops were ready to pounce. She handed over an envelope of paper towels and when the suspect started to leave the police made the arrest. The arrest was caught on the doorbell cam.
“Grandma” scams are unfortunately the fifth most reported phone scam and account for annual losses of billions of dollars. In this instance, Jean played the game really well and with the suspected scammer now behind bars she said, “Bored grandma 1, bad guy 0.”
Jean advises people never to agree to hand over money to anyone who calls. Police also add not to send gift cards, prepaid cards or other forms of currency and to protect the information you post online, because “bad guys” can take that information and try to con you.
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