Blooming Grove couple scammed out of $9,900

On October 3, New York State Police from the Monroe barracks arrested Masud Rana, 33, from Queens for grand larceny in the third degree after allegedly defrauding an elderly couple, the state police reported.

According to the police report, on October 2, state police received a fraud complaint claiming that an elderly couple, 82 years of age from Blooming Grove, NY, were defrauded out of $9,900. On October 1, the victims reportedly received an email from PayPal stating that they were charged $346.12 for an antivirus protection plan for their computer. The couple did not have a PayPal account, nor did they subscribe to any type of antivirus protection plan. So they called the phone number provided in the email and spoke to someone claiming to be a customer service representative, who told them to pay a $200 fee to reverse the antivirus subscription charges, per the police report.

While attempting to pay the charge, they mistakenly transferred $20,000 through an application they were told to download onto their computer, instead of $200. The victims then alerted the so-called customer service representative of the mistake, but the representative allegedly only agreed to reverse the charge if the victims paid $9,900 in person.

Rana traveled to the victim’s residence to collect the $9,900 in cash. Police say they were able to identify Rana’s vehicle thanks to footage obtained by the elderly couple. Rana was arrested and arraigned at the Orange County Centralized Arraignment where he was released on an appearance ticket for a later date. The police also noted that the $9,900 was recovered by the New York State Police and returned to the victims.

When faced with unsolicited charges like this, the FBI recommends that people search online for the phone numbers and other contact information provided to see whether they are real or fake, or have already been called out as a scam, and to resist the urge to act immediately. “Scammers create a sense of urgency to produce fear and lure victims into immediate action,” the FBI said in its fraud prevention tips. If a request for payment seems suspect, alert law enforcement. Fraud complaints can be made through the following FBI website: ic3.gov. The state Attorney General’s Office also has an online complaint form available through ag.ny.gov/file-complaint or by calling their helpline: 1-800-771-7755 (or 1-800-788-9898 for the hearing impaired).