Rochester-area scammer collects $18K from local home

(ABC 6 News) – A Rochester woman lost $18,000 in a scam late last week, police captain Casey Moilanen said.

Unusually, the woman withdrew the cash from her bank, and a man showed up at her door to collect it — prompting police to search locally for at least some of the scammers.

According to Moilanen, the woman received a call from a scammer pretending to be her son Thursday, Feb. 22.

The son lives in Colorado, Moilanen said.

The scammer told the woman he had been in a crash, and gave her the number of an “attorney” if she wanted to help him out.

The woman called a second scammer, who pretended to be a Colorado attorney named Joseph Cohen.

That scammer told the woman her son was in jail, he had struck a pregnant woman in his car, and he needed $18,000 to make bail, Moilanen said.

The woman spent all morning on the phone with the scammers, who convinced her to withdraw the money from her bank and bring it home.

Around 1 p.m., a Black man in a jacket and medical mask collected the cash, Moilanen said.

The woman told police she didn’t think the man parked on her street, and he left on foot.

Later, the woman became suspicious and called the “attorney” back, who told her the fake victim “lost her baby.”

After that phone call, the woman spoke with her real son, who told her none of the above had happened to him.

Police learned about the scam Feb. 23, Moilanen said.

Lessons for the general public

Moilanen said social media can make it easy for scammers to learn about a victim’s family, then imitate them over the phone.

AI technology commonly used to imitate celebrity voices can also be used in conjunction with any video of family members speaking to create realistic-sounding calls for help, he added.

Moilanen said if someone receives a worrying call from a family member at a different number than usual, they should call that person back at their usual phone number.

Additionally, Moilanen encouraged people hearing about loved ones “in jail” to call local jails and see if their family member has actually been booked in before attempting to help with bail.

Goodhue County will now transition its email accounts, so that all addresses end in “.gov.”

The change not only means increased security for their email servers, but it also helps identify when people actually receive an email from the sheriff’s office.

The transition is set to be in full effect by the end of March.