Another Phone Scam Targets Senior, $10K Stolen

Berkeley Police are reporting a phone scam similar to one reported in Toms River this week.

A Holiday City woman is out thousands of dollars after a series of phone calls last month when a man pretending to be her grandson phoned and asked her to wire him money, Berkeley Detective Sgt. James J. Smith Jr. said.

"It happens every day," Smith said. "But usually the act of them giving the money doesn't happen."

The woman — whose name is being withheld by police — received a phone call around 11 a.m. Nov. 28 from a man who said "Do you know who this is?" according to the police report.

When the woman said her grandson's name, the man told her he was in trouble in New York City, had been involved in a car accident and needed her to send him money.

A man who identified himself as the grandson's public defender then got on the phone and asked the woman to wire $8,662 to his secretary through Western Union, according to the police report.

The woman got another call shortly after from the bogus public defender, who told her there had been a problem with the Western Union transfer and to wire $2,055 via Moneygram to a CVS store, the police report states.

The woman then went to the CVS store on Bananier Drive and wired the money.

The next morning she received another call from her "grandson," who asked her for another $2,100 for car rental fees and told her "not to tell anyone." The woman went back to CVS and sent the money.

The woman then contacted her son, who is a Neptune police officer, and told him what had happened.

Her son then called the woman's grandson, who lives out of state. The grandson told him he had not been in New York, had not been in an accident or asked for money, the police report states.

The woman's son then called the number and got no answer. It was later determined the call came from the Toronto, Canada area, according to the police report.

The involved a female caller targeting a Toms River man. The 82-year-old victim was told his grandson was involved in an accident in Las Vegas, and that the victim of the accident was in serious condition. That theft was in excess of $40,000, said Chief Michael Mastronardy.