Nassau Woman Victim Of $30,000 Elder Scam: Police

NORTH MERRICK, NY — A North Merrick woman was the victim of an elder scam last month. An arrest was made on Wednesday, police said.

The 71-year-old victim received a text message from an unknown person regarding fraudulent activity on her Apple account, police said.

The woman then spoke to an unknown male on the phone claiming to be a Chase bank representative. He instructed her to withdraw $30,000 from her Chase account, authorities said.

After returning home with the money, she was advised to meet a Chase courier at the corner of Old Mill Road and Sandra Lane, police said.

The victim followed the instructions and handed over the $30,000 to an unknown male. After reporting the incident to police, an investigation was conducted and detectives located the man, Dengjin Chen, 44, at his Queens home, police said.

He was placed under arrest without further incident. The investigation is ongoing.

Chen is charged with third-degree grand larceny, police said.

He was scheduled to be arraigned on Wednesday.

While in custody it was discovered that Chen was involved in another elder scam, involving a larceny of $25,000 on June 4 in Wilton, Connecticut, police said.

Chen will also be charged there.

Anyone who feels as though they may have been victimized Chen should contact Nassau County Crime Stoppers at 1-800-244-TIPS.