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The couple was already at the bank when their adult daughter reached out to township police –and just in time.
Posing as a lawyer, one of the scammers had called and convinced the couple that a grandchild “had been involved in a car accident in New York City where a pregnant woman was involved and lost her baby,” Detective Capt. Dan Daly explained.
The worried grandparents had already ponied up a significant amount of cash during two pickups that day and were being directed to produce a third, Daly said.
The couple was to place the money that they’d just pulled from the bank in an envelope and leave it in their mailbox so a courier could pick it up, the captain said they were told.
What the scammers didn’t know this time was that detectives and uniformed officers were set up inside and outside the home. An investigator also coached the grandparents on what to say.
Hours later, a BMW SUV with tinted windows and New York license plates pulled up to the house.
A passenger got out and walked directly to the mailbox.
He and the driver were in handcuffs before either knew what hit him.
The driver, Ernis Nusevic, 18, of Yonkers, and his passenger, Lenny Gomez, 26, of the Bronx, were charged with conspiracy and criminal attempt.
Rather than be sent to the Passaic County Jail, both had to be released with summonses to appear in Superior Court in Paterson under New Jersey’s 2017 bail reform law.
Daly, meanwhile, warned residents about the grandson-in-trouble scam.
It's a “common phone scam where callers will advise a victim that a loved one was involved in some type of legal trouble and that they need to provide cash for bail for this person,” he said. “This scam frequently targets elderly residents who are particularly vulnerable and trusting of the callers.
“If any person is called by someone purporting to be judge, prosecutor, attorney or bail bondsman who claims that a family member has been arrested, take the time to independently verify this information by calling that person or another family member directly before providing any information or money,” the captain said.
“Often times, the scammer will immediately end the phone call once being advised that the victim wants to verify this information on their own,” he said.
“A primary activity of the scam is to keep the victim on the phone for the entire time, up until the money is picked up, in order to ensure that the victim is not advising any family or law enforcement of the scam,” Daly said.
“Immediately call the local police department if you believe that you or a family member has been, or is currently being, victimized by this scam,” he added.
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