A scam artist bilked a 74-year-old Upper West Side man out of nearly $10,000 by claiming his son needed the money for bail — in a scheme eerily similar to one that targeted another senior in the same neighborhood just last month, police said.
In the most recent case, the septuagenarian got a call at around 12:30 p.m. on Sept. 15 from someone claiming his son had been arrested, couldn’t be reached and needed to pay bail to be released from behind bars, cops said.
But the victim’s son was never under arrest, cops said.
The fraudster coerced the victim into meeting him at West 62nd Street and Riverside Boulevard and turn over $9,500 “under false promise,” the NYPD said.
The heartless thief then took off in a black SUV.
The NYPD released surveillance photos late Tuesday of the white-haired suspect and his getaway car, in the hopes of identifying him.
The incident comes about three weeks after another swindler bilked a 78-year-old granny out of the same amount of money, cops said.
The elderly woman received a phone call at her Upper West Side home from a man who posed as her grandson and asked her for $9,500 to make bail, according to cops.
She agreed and the scammer arranged for a courier to come pick up the money about an hour later, police said.
The man was driving a white Toyota with a New York license plate, and the victim was able to snap a picture of him before he drove away, cops said.
Though the two crimes were strikingly alike, an NYPD spokesman said Wednesday that there is no indication that they are related.
Both incidents follow a similar pattern to a 2020 scheme allegedly orchestrated by Anthony Rosario Mendez in Brooklyn, prosecutors said at the time.
Mendez had posed as a lawyer and told grandparents their grandkids were arrested and needed bail money, according to the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office.
He ripped off several victims ranging in age from 74 to 90 out of thousands, with the bail ranging from $3,000 to $20,000, authorities said.
“Never agree to turn over money without contacting your grandchild, their parent, or another relative to determine if they are safe,” Brooklyn DA Eric Gonzalez said in a statement about that incident at the time.
“And report any suspicious solicitation to law enforcement.”
