Crooks Continue to Prey on the Elderly Using Money Scams

Information provided by Sandy Springs Police Capt. Steve Rose

Last week, a woman surrendered to Sandy Springs Police after allegedly scamming an 82-year-old man out of $35,000 by claiming she needed the money for cancer treatments.

Last Tuesday, an 84-year-old Sandy Springs woman reported a scam of more than $3,000. According to a report by Capt. Steve Rose, the victim said she received a call on July 16 from someone claiming that he was her grandson. She said she had a hard time hearing the person but understood at one point that he was in trouble. Someone else came on the line and said he was Sergeant Draper and her grandson was in the Dominican Republic and needed money for bail.

Sergeant Draper said her grandson didn’t want his parents to know which is why he called his grandmother. The victim said she was skeptical but also worried. She went to a nearby Publix store and wired $1,580 to Western Union.

She called the number given and spoke to Sergeant Draper who said everything would be okay once she sent the balance of the money. He was getting the charges dropped. The following day she sent $1,450, called Draper again, who said they were getting her grandson a plane ticket as soon as the rest of the money was paid. He told her to send the money to Y Van-Gabriel Rangel-Perata and another person named Pablo Blanca.

She later called her daughter and found that her grandson was in school here in Georgia.

Similar Scams 

In May a Sandy Springs grandfather was the victim of a similar scam after receiving a call from someone who said he was the man’s grandson in the Dominican Republic, and in trouble with the police.

Rose said, a similar fraud was reported, last week, by an 84-year old woman who said that she was contacted on July 24 by a man saying he was lawyer representing her grandson who was locked up for DUI, Hit and Run, and Expired License.

The man said her grandson needed $1,900 wired to him to get him out of Fulton County Jail. The victim was told that her “grandson” was embarrassed and he didn’t want his parents to know.

She wired $1,900 to Baltimore, Maryland to someone named Nichole Lashawn Sweet. A second wire was sent for $2,040 before she became suspicious. She contacted her real grandson who was with his parents checking out colleges.