Kindly Old Uncle Bilked Out Of $2.7K By Grifter Posing As Jailed Nephew

TINLEY PARK, IL — A kindly old uncle was conned out of more than $2,700 by a grifter posing as his nephew and claiming he was locked up in an Ohio jail.

The 73-year-old Tinley Park man told police he received a call “from someone who said, ‘Hello Uncle Tom’” and claimed to be his nephew Jimmy, police said.

But the caller did not sound like his nephew Jimmy, and the uncle told him so. The caller explained this away by saying he had a “broken nose, that he was in an accident, that’s why he sounded funny,” and that “he was in a jail in Ohio and he needed bail money,” police said.

The phony nephew told the Tinley Park man a woman would call him within the next five minutes. The woman did call, police said, and identified herself as Jennifer Harvey. She then told the uncle “his nephew had been involved in an accident in Ohio and (was) charged with a DUI,” and he needed $1,770 to get out of jail.

“Harvey informed (him) once the money was transferred his nephew would be released,” police said.

She also urged him not to tell anyone the money was for bail and, if asked, to say it was a wedding present.

The woman went on to tell the uncle he needed to send the cash to her in a MoneyGram. The uncle, “thinking he didn’t want his nephew to be in jail for any amount of time, did what Harvey instructed him to do,” police said.

The MoneyGram fees tacked another $35.40 onto the uncle’s $1,770 payment, police said, and less than two hours after he sent it off, the woman called him again and told him she needed “another $1,800 because there was a six-months pregnant lady in the other car and she is causing some problems.”

Harvey told the uncle that If he sent the additional $1,800, “she could take it to the judge and maybe he would drop the charges,” police said.

The uncle told the woman he could only get her another $900 but would send her the rest three days later. She told him that would work, so he wired what he had from a Currency Exchange.

The next day, the uncle called his nephew Jimmy to see how he was doing and to ask about the trouble in Ohio.

“Jimmy told him he hadn’t gone anywhere, he’s fine and he’s been at work,” police said. The uncle “stated he knew then that he had been scammed.”