Las Vegas police disrupt ‘grandparent scam' where seniors lost thousands

Yahoo

5 hours ago

LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Several young men are accused of running a so-called 'grandparent scam' where older adults are convinced a family member, often a grandchild, is in jail and needs money to post bail or pay a lawyer, the 8 News Now Investigators have learned.
Matthew Acquah, Manuel Rivera and Ashton Turunc face charges connected to at least 16 thefts where the victim was over the age of 60, documents said.
After convincing their victim to hand over large amounts of money, 'the suspects then [made] arrangements to have a rideshare… to pick up the money and deliver it to the suspects,' documents said. In all, police suspect the scheme netted the group nearly $186,000.
'There were over a hundred 'attempts' where the conspirator would give [the driver] an address, but no […] driver was ever sent,' documents said. 'Some addresses that were sent were from hours away from the Las Vegas area, including Reno, McGill, NV; Scottsdale, AZ; Fountain Hill, AZ; Washington, UT; [and] Saint George, UT.'
In January 2024, a grandmother received a call from a person she believed was her grandson, documents said. The person on the call said her grandson was in jail and he needed $25,000 for bail, documents said. The woman withdrew cash from a bank and later handed it to a courier.
'After handing the envelope to the driver, she received a second phone call back, from the 'public defender,'' police said about the scam. 'The '[public defender] explained to [the victim] that her grandson had hit a pregnant lady and was losing the baby. Due to losing the baby, the bond had been raised an additional $10,000 and would be needed to get their grandson out of jail. She then went back to the bank, took out an additional $10,000, and packaged it the same way as the first package. After sending out the package, to a second driver, the caller explained that she would receive a phone call back… to let her know the outcome of her grandson's case. However, she never received another call.'
Another victim took a photo of a suspect vehicle, leading them to a student at a Summerlin high school.
Detectives also obtained text messages and Snapchat conversations that showed members of the group talking about the thefts and showing large amounts of cash, documents said.
In one photo, one of the young men poses with several $100 bills and then 'kisses the bills and then licks his finger and rubs it over the camera lens,' police said.
As part of their investigation, Metro detectives discovered a similar scam in Ventura County, California, they said. In one case, a woman in her 90s withdrew thousands of dollars from a bank, believing a relative needed 'bail money.'
'Both Rivera and Acquah are above the age of 18 during the commission of these crimes,' documents said. 'Rivera and Acquah were directing and instructing Turunc on where to pick up the money obtained fraudulently from these victims. They also provided Turunc with account numbers to deposit the money and instructed them to keep deposits under $10,000 to avoid reporting from the banks. Both Rivera and Acquah should have known Turunc was a minor due to him being in high school.'
Court documents indicate Turunc was 17 at the time of the allegations. He faces charges of conspiracy to commit theft and theft, records said.
Acquah and Rivera face charges of conspiracy to obtain money by false pretense and obtaining money by false pretense, records said.
The FBI warns grandparents and grandchildren to limit their social media posts and keep them private, so scammers cannot exploit the relationship.
Complaints can be filed with the FBI at IC3.gov.
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