A scheme to take $25,000 from a 75-year-old Larchmont woman ended with two people arrested. Police say thanks to the calm composure of the victim, the help of a neighbor and officers, it ended without anyone losing money.
"I thought I was pretty savvy, but that was really bad," said the Larchmont resident.
It happened on Monday. The victim doesn't want to be identified.
She was at home when she says a message came up on her phone.
"I got a notice that said you've been hacked," the woman tells News 12.
She eventually ended up talking to someone who claimed to be a representative from her bank, saying scammers were processing money from her account.
She was told to protect some of that money, to take out $25,000 from the bank. She said the person on the phone told her a representative would be coming to her home later that evening to pick it up.
After getting the money, she went to her neighbor's house.
"She was very, very agitated and asked me if I could call police in a very hushed voice and told me that there was going to be a large cash exchange going at 7 o'clock and she would really feel more comfortable if the police were there," says Larchmont resident Cloud Huter.
Police quickly made their way over and coordinated a plan.
"They stayed with me the whole time," says the resident.
Later on, two people showed up at the house and police were ready for them. The two suspects were arrested.
Qin Lin, 37, of Staten Island, and Zhonglin Luo, 45, of Brooklyn face several charges including grand larceny in the third degree.
"I’m just going to start by saying how proud I am of everybody that was involved. From our 75-year-old victim to the neighbor that called us and to the officers that just executed it flawlessly. This is a case where all too often, we have our older population targeted for these types of crimes," says Larchmont Police Chief Chris McNerney.
Police say this was an effective operation.
The victim says she hopes others will learn from this incident.
"It was pretty convincing to me, but I guess almost anyone can be fooled," says the Larchmont woman.
Police are reminding residents that legitimate financial institutions will never instruct customers to withdraw cash and hand it to a representative at their home. Anyone receiving such a call is urged to hang up and contact their local police department immediately.
