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A 73-year-old woman reported that she attempted to send $2,000 in "bail money" after she received a call from a man who claimed to be "Officer Landry from the 13th District" who said he had her granddaughter in custody.
The victim told police that the caller knew her granddaughter's name and said a young woman was put on the phone to ask for the $2,000 in bail. The man got back on the phone and said she had been a passenger in a motor vehicle stop involving narcotics, police said. The grandmother was told to go to a Rite Aid and purchase four $500 Green Dot pre-paid cards so she could provide bail over the phone, police said.
She told the man posing as an officer that she needed to speak with her son about getting the money and she was given two phone numbers, 438-989-5256 and 438-937-4002, to use to contact them when she got the money, police said.
The son returned home, the victim told the story and the son went to purchase the cards, police said. But when they attempted to contact the man again, the numbers were out of service, police said. A call to her granddaughter revealed she was in school and not in custody, police said.
Later Monday, a man told police he had been contacted by an unknown man who said they had his brother hostage and would shoot him if the victim did not pay.
The man told the caller that he did not have a brother by that name and the caller hung up, police said.
Officers and the victim attempted to call the number, 203-218-0501, and received an automated message saying the voice mail was full.
Police ask that residents contact the department at 203-254-4800 if they feel they have been a victim of a phone scam or an attempted phone scam.
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