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Frederik Regalado, 23, of the Bronx, pled guilty on May 8 before Judge Robert Bogle to three counts of grand larceny after telling the woman her son had been in a car crash and need bail money to get out of jail, said the Nassau County District Attorney's Office.
“This unscrupulous defendant bilked an octogenarian out of $45,000 in one day and deserves every day in prison that he was sentenced to,” DA Madeline Singas said. “These so-called granny scammers prey on vulnerable seniors who believe that their family members are in trouble with the law."
During the scam, Regalado called the Oceanside woman and told her that her son was in a car crash and placed under arrest for driving drunk in Manhattan. He then told the victim that she needed to send $7,500 to bail her son out of jail and that a courier would pick up the money from her house. Regalado who pretended to be a courier, arrived at the victim’s home around 1 p.m. and collected $7,500 in cash, the DA's Office said.
Two hours later, the woman received another call from the scammers saying that a judge raised the amount of bail because the person that was “struck” by the victim’s son was pregnant, and the car crash caused the woman to lose the fetus. Regalado then returned to the victim’s home and collected another $7,500 in cash.
The victim received a third scam phone call that day at approximately 5 p.m. and the caller stated that woman had to send an additional $30,000 to pay for medical bills that were related to the car crash. The defendant went back to the victim’s house a third time and collected an additional $30,000 from the victim.
A few minutes after the third exchange, the victim’s son called his mother. It was at this point that the victim realized that her son was not in jail. Throughout the day, a total of $45,000 in cash was stolen from the victim.
After each cash pickup, the defendant dropped off the money to an unknown individual.
If you believe you’ve been the victim of a phone scam, please contact the NCDA’s Tip Line at 516-571-7755.
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