$40K 'Printer Con' Cheats Westchester Resident: Police

CROTON-ON-HUDSON, NY — The Croton-on-Hudson Police Department says that a Queens man was arrested for attempted grand larceny after a ploy to scam a Westchester resident out of $40,000 cash.

On Friday, a village resident was having issues with his printer and called what he believed to be Hewlett-Packard customer support. However, the person who answered the call was actually a scammer who convinced the victim to withdraw $20,000 from the bank for someone to pick up later.

Around 2 p.m., an unknown man arrived at the victim's address to collect the money. Afterwards, the victim was contacted by the same scammer he spoke with previously on the phone, who said that the victim needed to give another $20,000. The victim told the caller that the bank was closed and he would withdraw the money the next day.

The victim later realized he had been scammed and contacted police.

On Saturday, members of the Croton Police Department, the Westchester County Police Department, and the Carmel Police Department responded to the victim's residence. As authorities expected, the victim was contacted again and instructed to withdraw the additional $20,000.

Several hours later, a suspect, later identified as 44-year-old Dengjin Chen, of Flushing, arrived in an unknown vehicle near the intersection of Glengary Road and Hessian Hills Road, police said. He then walked the rest of the way to the victim's home, picked up the money, and left on foot, according to investigators.

Officers surveilled Chen until he arrived at a police road block that was set up earlier, at which point he fled on foot into the woods, cops said. Officers from all three agencies then engaged in a foot pursuit, and Chen was captured.

The suspect vehicle was identified by the Westchester Real Time Crime Center. The Ossining Police Department then located the vehicle traveling south and stopped it on Route 9A, in the Town of Ossining.

Chen was charged with felony third-degree attempted grand larceny, and released with an appearance ticket returnable to the Village Justice Court.

Police say the driver of the vehicle has not been charged, but an investigation into his involvement is ongoing.