Elderly residents scammed out of tens of thousands of dollars in Forsyth County

FORSYTH COUNTY, Ga - Forsyth County Sheriff's officials are sounding the alarm after three elderly residents were victimized by scammers last week. The con artists convinced the women to give them tens of thousands of dollars.

Detectives released this surveillance image of one of the suspects they're looking for.

MAN WANTED FOR SCAMMING ELDERLY FORSYTH COUNTY RESIDENTS OUT OF TENS OF THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS

They said he posed as a courier to collect thousands of dollars in cash from one victim.

"All these scams are similar in nature. The victims are in their early to mid-80s. They received telephone calls from their landline telephones advising that a family member was in an accident, or in jail, and needed to be bonded out of jail," said Forsyth County Sheriff's Detective Christopher Murphy.

The scammers then stated that the victim's family member needed money, and it had to be cash. 

The victims were told to go to their banks and withdraw the money, and that a courier would come pick it up.

"The first victim provided $18,000 in cash to a courier that arrived at her residence in Forsyth County to pick up the cash and all victims provided cash to the couriers," stated Murphy.

Detective Murphy said scammers bilked the three victims about $40,000 in the elaborate scheme.

"The first call was the attorney stating that they were acting on behalf of the victim's family member that was in jail, then they were handed off to a bail bondsman to try to obtain the money, so there are different layers to the scam, "said Det. Murphy. 

In one case, a suspect impersonated a victim's distressed family member, convincing the elderly woman to pay the money to get her out of jail.

"After they contacted the family member that they thought was in jail, that's when they realized the family member was not in danger was not in jail, that's when they realized they had been scammed and contacted law enforcement," he said.

Detective Murphy said there is no connection between the victims, and that similar scams are being reported nationwide. He said it's important to inform family members about these scams, so they don't fall victim, and anyone receives one of these calls he said, contact the sheriff's office.

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