Bay Area Grandma Ensnared In Gift Certificate Scam; Police Partially Recover Money

SANTA CLARA COUNTY, CA -- Santa Clara police this month were able to recover $7,000 for an elderly victim of a Green Dot gift certificate scam, police said Friday.

On April 11 dispatchers received a call from a man who lives in Oklahoma about fraudulent activity against his grandmother.

The man said his grandmother was called and told her grandson in Michigan was in jail and needed $25,000 to bail out.

The grandmother was told to buy Green Dot gift certificates and provide the caller with the account numbers. She followed the instructions, police said.

Another person called and asked the grandmother to send $7,000 by mail to a FedEx location in Santa Clara. She followed the instructions and then her grandson called.

The grandson called Santa Clara police who sent a team of officers to the FedEx store. The package had not been picked up yet.

When the suspect came to get the package, police said they stopped him and found he was going to use a fake ID card to pick up the money.

Because the alleged offenses crossed state lines, officers with the Department of Homeland Security arrested the suspect.

The $7,000 was returned to the grandmother, but the $25,000 could not be recovered, police said.

Bay City News contributed to this report/Image via Shutterstock