Grandma Sets Up Sting Operation To Scam The Scammer That’s Calling Her
Not too long ago, I saw a tweet that said something along the lines of being a hacker isn’t like you’d imagine it to be in the movies, but instead it’s a series of messages sent to Boomers to hand over their passwords and they do.
The sad reality is that oftentimes, it’s the older generations that get duped by scammers using fake phone calls, emails, or text messages to access people’s sensitive information.
Unfortunately, most of the time, scammers get away with their crimes without much consequence. But every once in a while, the scammer gets scammed and instant karma gets dished out.
The perfect example of this came out of Long Island, New York when 73-year-old Jean Ebbert got even with a potential scammer.
This elderly woman was not about to become someone’s victim. In fact, the 73-year-old is a retired 911 dispatcher, so she was able to quickly see through the ruse but also had the calm presence of mind to play along and create the perfect trap to catch her would-be scammer.
At the time of the potential scam, Ebbert was in the middle of texting her son when she got a phone call. The phone call was from a man claiming to be her grandson. The scammer was pretending to be her grandson who was in jail for a DUI and needed bail money. The only problem with this scam was that Ebbert doesn’t have a grandson of driving age.
She said to CBS News, “I knew he was a real scammer. I just knew he wasn’t going to scam me.”
That is when she decided to teach this scammer a lesson and play along with the ruse.
“It took about three hours of back-and-forth phone calls, maybe 15 phone calls,” she said to Fox News.
Of course, she wasn’t going to play along with it forever. At some point, she was going to make sure that the cops got called. By this point, Ebbert had already established that the scammer was someone pretending to be her fake grandson’s lawyer, and he was advising her that she needed to send him $8,000 in bail money.
“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,” Ebbert told the news station.
The scammer showed up at her house posing as the bail bondsman. Ebbert handed over an envelope that contained paper towels, and once the transaction was completed, the police popped up to arrest him. It had been a sting! The scammer turned out to be 28-year-old Joshua Estrella Gomez, who was later charged with attempted grand larceny in the third degree.
Ebbert said to Fox News that the secret to her success in the event was her former work as a 911 operator. She said, “You have to think quick. You have to be able to multitask. I had to come up with why I had money in the house.”
While Ebbert’s story was one of clever karma on someone trying to take advantage of her, the local law enforcement is also using it as a cautionary tale for other elderly people that scams targeting them are becoming increasingly excessive.
According to CBS19 News, the Nassau County Police Commissioner, Patrick Ryder, reminded others to, “Speak to your families. Speak to your neighbors. Visit those that are vulnerable. Let them know, don’t listen to these scams. These individuals sit at home and have nothing else to do but think of a way to take advantage of our elderly.”
Ebbert, herself, also believes that other elderly people should remain aware of who might be trying to hustle them for their money.
“I feel like gotcha, and I feel like, like you say, so many people fall for this and you only hear about it on the other end after they’ve lost $8,000,” she said.
And we couldn’t agree more. Don’t let yourself be a victim of a scam. And more importantly, don’t try to take on a scammer all by yourself. If you think you’re potentially being victimized, call law enforcement to deal with the criminals.