Monday, February 8, 2010

Car scam cost granny $11,000

From the NY Post:

A cruel con artist swindled an 86-year-old Queens woman out of more than $11,000 by convincing her there was a mysterious sound coming from her car that he could fix, authorities said.

Billy Thompson, 47, did nothing but fiddle with the engine of the elderly woman's 1976 Dodge Aspen before taking her bank check, according to the Queens DA's Office.

The woman was driving on Sept. 23 when she stopped at a traffic light.

Thompson approached, said the car sounded funny and offered to solve the "problem," prosecutors said.

He popped the hood, acted like he was working, then demanded $13,000.

The woman managed to bargain him down to $11,200, and he accompanied her to a bank where she got a certified check, authorities said.

Thompson faces up to seven years in jail on grand-larceny charges.


I hate to say this but I don't think granny should be let out of the house alone anymore.

7 comments:

Joe said...

Sounds like another victim of the Scottish and Romani "Traveler" clan, possibly renting in Ridgewood for their work season.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottish_travellers

Anonymous said...

granny must be loaded. $10k to her might be just like $100 to anyone else.

Anonymous said...

Make a seve example of him, and ship Granny off to a home.

Anonymous said...

seve = severe

Anonymous said...

Seriously - granny needs help.

Anonymous said...

Granny is probably just fine. She's stopped at a light, this man offers to help her and then demands $, intimidates her into going to the bank and getting a bank check. It's an old trick, it even has a name but I forget what it's called. But Granny did the right thing and called the DA.

Anonymous said...

Good thing for him that wasn't my grandmother.