MANHATTAN — A 93-year-old woman forked over $2,000 to a scammer claiming that her friend had been locked up on Rikers Island and needed bail money, police said.
The woman received a call on May 26 around 1 p.m. at her home near E. 20th Street and First Avenue from a man, who told her one of her friends was being held in the jail and that she needed to hand over $6,500 to bail him out, according to authorities.
The victim told the man she could only give him $2,000, and shortly after he showed up at her home and took the money, police said.
When the victim became suspicious and called the friend who was supposedly in jail, she discovered he had not been arrested, police said.
Police released surveillance footage of the suspect, who was described as a thin man last seen wearing a hoodie with white stripes on the arms, a black shirt and dark pants.
Anyone with information in regards to this incident is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782).
