Westport police: Couple nearly swindled out of thousands in 'grandparent' phone scam
A Westport couple allegedly targeted by the so-called “grandparent scam” led police to arrest an undocumented immigrant on attempted larceny charges.
Hector Arias-Guzman, 28, of Mallard Avenue in Boston was arrested last week in Taunton after police said he called a Westport couple claiming to be their son who needed a large amount of cash to avoid jail after getting into a car crash.
According to police, Arias-Guzman had attempted to swindle $6,000 from the Westport couple. He was charged with attempted larceny and conspiracy.
Police said Arias-Guzman had been arrested by Customs and Border Protection in January for illegally entering the United States near Del Rio, Texas.
On Tuesday, during his arraignment in Fall River District Court, Judge Thomas Barrett released Arias-Guzman on $4,000 cash bail, which he posted. He was freed pending trial.
Assistant District Attorney Nicole Cheney had asked the judge for $25,000 cash bail; District Attorney Thomas Quinn III criticized the ruling.
“The amount of cash bail set in this case is clearly too low,” Quinn stated in a release. “Given the defendant’s immigration status and lack of connection to the area, he is definitely a flight risk.”
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What is the ‘grandparent scam’?
A common form of telephone fraud, the “grandparent scam” involves a scammer who preys on fears that a loved one is in a crisis and needs money right away.
Scammers obtain personal information including names and phone numbers, sometimes through mining information posted to social media or by buying information from cybercriminals.
A scammer calls someone claiming to be a close relative, and says they’ve had an emergency and need money right away. According to the Federal Communications Commission, the scammer will sometimes hand the phone to an accomplice claiming to be a lawyer. The victims are often pressured to give out more information or send money quickly through mobile apps, wire transfer, gift cards, money orders or even in-person cash deliveries, and they are frequently advised not to tell other people about the incident.
Scammers often target the elderly by pretending to be their grandchildren. According to The Washington Post, more sophisticated scammers sometimes use AI technology to replicate voices of loved ones.
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What do police say happened in this case?
Westport police said the couple received a call from someone claiming to be their son, saying he had been texting while driving and crashed the car with a pregnant woman passenger. Police said the man claimed to have been arrested and was at the hospital with injuries, but would be jailed immediately if he did not post bail.
According to the police report, the caller put another man on the phone claiming to be a public defender named Mark Cohen who said their son would need to post $25,000 cash bail within the hour. When the couple said they could not raise that money so quickly, police said, the caller suggested they could also pay $10,000. When the couple again balked, police said, the caller negotiated the "bail” down to $6,000.
The couple reported the call to Westport police. Detective Sgt. Bryan McCarthy said he recognized the phone number and name Mark Cohen as consistent with a scam perpetrated the previous week. Police said the detective advised the couple to await further instructions from the caller and collaborate with police to deliver the cash in a sting operation.
Following directions from the caller, the couple packaged the cash and gave it to a Lyft driver who, they were told, would deliver it to their son in Boston. A team of detectives followed the Lyft vehicle to an address in Taunton. The driver delivered the package of cash to a man who police arrested and identified as Arias-Guzman.
How to protect yourself from grandparent scams
Police and the FCC advise people who receive such calls to hang up and report them to police.
Use your legitimate contact info to double-check with the person who claims to be in an emergency, or verify with other loved ones.
Never be bullied into giving personal or financial information over the phone.
“No legitimate business, hospital, police station, or judicial/court department accepts prepaid gift cards, phone cards or cash in an envelope delivered by any rideshare company for services rendered," Westport police stated.
“Victims often do not report these types of attempted scams to police," stated Quinn. “We all need to be very vigilant to the scam artists who are trying to rip off law abiding citizens of their hard-earned money.”
Dan Medeiros can be reached at dmedeiros@heraldnews.com. Support local journalism by purchasing a digital or print subscription to The Herald News today.
This article originally appeared on The Herald News: Undocumented immigrant out on bail in Mass. 'grandparent scam' charges
