Couple Conned Out Of $13K By Grifters Claiming Their Daughter Was In Jail: Cops

EAST GREENWICH, RI — An East Greenwich couple was swindled out of $13,000 by grifters who tricked them into thinking their daughter was in jail, police said.

The couple met with officers Dec. 30 and told them the afternoon before, the 68-year-old wife "received a call from someone posing as their daughter," according to an East Greenwich police report.

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The mother told police the "caller sounded like her daughter and used similar mannerisms over the phone," the report said.

The imposter told the woman she had been in an accident in Providence and was arrested on a charge of driving under the influence, according to the report, and then asked her mother to call a lawyer at a phone number she provided.

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The mother called the number and spoke to a man who claimed to be a "Board Certified Public Defender" and "reiterated the same story regarding her daughter," the report said. "Furthermore, the male party asked for $20,000 for their daughter's 'Bail money.'"

The man posing as a public defender instructed the mother to withdraw $20,000 from the bank, head to a Stop & Shop in North Kingstown and deposit the cash in a Coinme bitcoin ATM, according to the report.

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The mother deposited the maximum $10,000 of the $20,000 in the machine "using various code numbers," and was then told to go to a Stop & Shop in Warwick.

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The woman deposited $3,000 into the Coinme machine at the Stop & Shop in Warwick before a "staff member approached her and informed her that she may be a victim of a scam," the report said.

The mother then hung up on the hung up on the scammers and did not deposit any more cash, according to the report.

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