Woman Loses Thousands of Dollars in Phone Call Scam

An 86-year-old Lincoln Square woman lost thousands of dollars after a man posing as a relative in a tight situation asked for money.

The woman notified Chicago Police Dec. 31 when a man claiming to be her second cousin called her in need of financial help.

The man told her he was in police custody for a traffic accident and needed money for a lawyer.

According to the report, the man told the elderly woman to send him $1,000 through a wire transfer, and then call him when she was done.

The woman, who lives on the 4500 block of North Virginia Avenue, reportedly went to the bank and wired the money from a Lincoln Square grocery store on Lincoln Avenue.

When she called the man to say she’d transferred the money, the man told her to wire another $1,000, police said. The victim made her way back to the grocery store and wired another grand.

When she called the number to tell him the $2,000 was sent, another man answered claiming to be the man’s attorney. He said he needed another $908 payment, but that’s when the woman told police she became suspicious and felt, “something wasn’t right.”

Police from the 19^th District asked the woman to call the phone number again and ask for a specific name.

When the man who answered said he was the man she was looking for, a police officer on the line identified himself, the report says.

The man “rapidly hung up” with the officer.

Police advised to woman to call her various financial companies to report the incident so it wouldn’t affect her credit.

Officers are still searching for the suspect behind the con.

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