Alert bank tellers in Pepper Pike thwart con artists on two attempted scams
PEPPER PIKE, Ohio -- Police credited two alert bank employees with foiling separate scams by con artists seeking thousands of dollars, one involving an unsuspecting grandmother and the other, an estate.
The first attempt came on May 25 when a resident, 78, said she received a phone call from her grandson, who told her that he was in jail[1] after a car accident involving a pregnant woman.
And he needed money to resolve the situation, either for attorney’s fees, bail or medical bills. She went to her Huntington Bank branch on Lander Road to withdraw $9,000, probably to be converted into gift cards.
But that never happened, because bank employees heard what has become a very familiar story[2] and told her it was a scam and that someone was merely pretending to be her grandson.
Instead of a hefty “theft by deception” case, police classified the incident as one of “harassing communications.”
The next day (May 26), police were alerted to an attempted fraud at Chase Bank on Pinetree Road, where an unknown individual attempted to cash a check for more than $4,000.
That didn’t happen either, as the bank staff there realized the would-be customer was posing as a deceased client of theirs. After being turned away at the teller window, the suspect left the scene before police arrived.
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References
- ^ in jail (www.cleveland.com)
- ^ very familiar story (www.cleveland.com)
- ^ cleveland.com/newsletters (www.cleveland.com)
- ^ Chagrin Solon Sun (www.cleveland.com)