From The Tribune staff reports
LEEDS — The Leeds Police Department (LPD) is actively investigating an attempted “financial exploitation of the elderly” scheme involving a 74-year-old Leeds woman.
According to the LPD, on Friday, Sept. 9, officers were notified of an attempt to swindle $35,o0o from the victim. Allegedly, the suspect reached the victim by phone, informing her that she was being accused of a crime and would have to mail $20,000 cash to a location in New York as compensation. The victim went to the bank and mailed $20,000 overnight. The suspect called back and informed her that he had not received it and instructed her that she would need to wire him an additional $15,000 to a Bank of America account.
The victim notified an acquaintance of the event and was encouraged to contact the police department. LPD stated that the cash delivered was stopped and returned to the victim.
Detective James Butterbrodt contacted Bank of America and the account was frozen, and a search warrant was obtained. Bank of America is returning a check to LPD as a refund of the wire transfer for the victim.
“I believe that incidents such as these should be released to the media so they can assist us in notifying the public of ‘Financial Exploitations of the Elderly,'” Chief Paul Irwin stated.
According to Irwin, this is a felony offense in the state of Alabama, and LPD is working with the Cayuga Heights Police Department in upstate New York to identify and prosecute the person responsible for this crime.
“The elderly in our country are constantly being targeted by people in their own family and across the world,” Irwin stated. “Usually, local law enforcement officers are the only agency they can turn to for assistance because of the large number of predators attempting to victimize the elderly.
“I am very excited that our Detective James Butterbrodt responded to this offense immediately and made a recovery for a citizen. She was swindled out of $35,000 in a short period of time, and (if) not for his immediate actions, this money would not have been recovered. This is a large amount of money, and most citizens have worked their entire life to be able to retire and survive. This is despicable.”
Irwin would like to remind everyone to be wary if you or someone you know receives a call attempting to convince you to pay large sums of money.
“If you owe someone, I am sure they have your address, and when you receive a bill, make sure it is something that you are familiar with and an amount you owe,” Irwin said. “There are scams constantly targeting elderly citizens, and the best thing they can do is not to send anyone money or give anyone their personal information.”