65-year-old woman befriended in grocery store hands over cash,
jewels
Gilroy – Good Samaritans beware. Con artists have started to come knocking this spring, and one 65-year-old resident has already been had – losing $20,000 to scammers Wednesday morning.
A female suspect approached the victim as she walked into Grocery Outlet at 727 First St., police said. The victim described her as “dressing elegantly,” and asked if she knew where to get checks notarized. A second female suspect then approached and offered to help. Together they conned the victim into believing she was helping this woman pay off for a favor she owed someone out of the country, police said.
“This lady was just trying to be nice,” said Sgt. Kurt Svardal. “It’s sad – $20,000 is gone.”
She traveled to several Washington Mutual banks starting in Gilroy and, driving to San Jose with the suspects, cashing personal checks for them and offering them the jewelry off her body and in her home.
According to police, the suspects spun a story about owing someone a favor after the death of one of the women’s sisters. The victim believed she was helping them pay back the favor and would be reimbursed, police said. However, the suspects took off after dropping the victim off at Black Bear Cafe where they planned to grab a bite to eat.
The suspects are believed to be in their 40s. One is about 5-foot, 2-inches, 150 pounds. She wore a black skirt and red striped shirt. The other is 5-foot, 9-inches, 120-pounds. They are believed to be driving a light gray full size van, police said.
Con artists made off with more than $45,000 of several Gilroy residents’ money last fall after a series of lottery and painting scams. Usually the lottery scammers worked in pairs or groups of three, conning older residents into believing they were helping lottery winners redeem their winnings. The youngest victim was 58.
“A lot of times (scammers) have this lottery ticket they can’t get redeemed or they’re basically selling something. Normally it’s something along these lines. It’s not something like this … where they told this woman they had to pay off a debt,” Svardal said.
Police warn individuals to be wary of people who approach them looking for monetary assistance.
“If someone comes up to you with these stories be very, very leery,” he said.
