73-year-old Grandmother Lures Scammer Into Her Home And Gets Him Arrested

A quick-thinking grandma from Long Island turned the tables on a suspected elder scammer after he called her last week and pretended to be her grandson in desperate need of bail money following a DUI arrest.

The woman, identified as Jean from Seaford, New York, saw right through the ruse.

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'He starts calling me "grandma," and then I'm like, I don't have a grandson that drives, so I knew it was a scam,' Jean told CBS New York.

Instead of terminating the call with the conman, Jean, a former 911 operator who described herself as a "bored grandma," opted to play along and lead him into a trap.

The dramatic outcome of Jean's ruse was captured on video by a doorbell camera, which showed two Nassau County police officers tackling the accused swindler to the ground as he turned to depart, holding an envelope stuffed with cut-up paper towels instead of $8,000 in bail money.

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The suspect has been identified as Joshua Estrella Gomez, 28, of Mineola, who was detained on Thursday on a charge of attempted grand larceny.

Gomez was released on a summons and is scheduled to appear in court on February 3.

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According to officials, the incident began on Thursday morning when the would-be victim, Jean, received a call from a man pretending to be her grandson.

According to News 12, the caller told his 'grandmother' that he was driving while inebriated and was engaged in an accident in which a woman was injured, which resulted in his incarceration.

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According to Newsday, Jean's seven grandchildren are all in elementary or middle school and none drive.

A short time later, the 73-year-old grandmother received a second call from a guy purporting to be her grandson's lawyer, Matt Levine, demanding $8,000 for her detained grandson's bail.

The woman then received a third call from a man claiming himself as Jean's grandson's bail bondman, who informed her that he was in the neighborhood of her Seaford house to collect the bail money.

'I told him I had the money in the house, and I figured, he’s not going to fall for that. Well, he fell for that hook, line and sinker,' Jean told CBS New York with a laugh.

Jean immediately called the police and reported the scam.

Two officers were waiting for Gomez inside the woman's home when he arrived to pick up the bail money.

The ring video demonstrates Gomez appears on Jean's doorway wearing a brown coat, a beanie cap, and a facemask, and she hands him a yellow envelope full with paper towels.

When the unsuspecting thief turns around to go with his loot, a couple of uniformed officers appear from their hiding place, tackle him to the ground, and pin him down on Jean's lawn, with the homeowner watching from her porch.

In retrospect, Jean stated that she is unsure what motivated her to communicate with the fraudster and invite him to her home rather than hang up the phone, as she had done numerous times before.

'Bored grandma 1, bad guy 0,' Jean told NBC New York with a chuckle.

During a press conference on Friday, Nassau Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder commended Jean and joked that she should be deputized as a commissioner.

'These individuals sit at home and have nothing better to do than to think of ways to take advantage of our elderly,' Ryder said of criminal preying on the elderly.

Jean's son said he is happy of his mother for assisting in the capture of a criminal, but he would have preferred if she had hung up instead of continuing with her deception.

'I was playing a game, it was entertaining,' Jean said. 'I didn't think it was really going to happen. I thought the guy would catch me in a lie. Obviously, I was pretty good because he believed me.'