Teaneck police arrested Zhenye Chen, 20, on April 22 after he picked up a UPS package containing $10,000 cash from the front steps of a vacant home listed for sale. The cash had been sent overnight by a woman in Shakopee, Minnesota, who believed her grandson needed urgent money for legal fees and to retrieve a vehicle from a police impound lot. The caller claimed to be the grandson and instructed the woman to wrap the cash to avoid UPS detection, providing the Teaneck address. Teaneck police placed the home under surveillance after Shakopee police contacted them. Chen was identified as the man who retrieved the package, and he was arrested as he returned to his vehicle. A search found an additional $10,100, a fraudulent Connecticut driver’s license, and cocaine. Authorities linked the scheme to other incidents and noted that grandparent scams often involve impersonation and details from social media.
"Teaneck police said they arrested Zhenye Chen, 20, on April 22 after he picked up a UPS package containing $10,000 cash from the front steps of a Teaneck home that was vacant and listed for sale. The cash, they said, had been sent overnight by a Shakopee, Minnesota woman who believed her grandson was in trouble."
"The alleged scam began to unravel when Shakopee police called their Teaneck counterparts, who put the home under surveillance. Teaneck police said their investigators watched a man, later identified as Chen, drive up to the home in a vehicle with New York plates and retrieve the UPS package. They arrested him as he returned to the vehicle."
"In a news release, Teaneck police said the Shakopee woman got a call on April 21 from someone pretending to be her grandson. The caller said he and a friend had been involved in a motor vehicle crash and urgently needed the money to pay legal fees and retrieve a vehicle from a police impound lot. He told the woman to wrap the cash in a way intended to make it hard for UPS to detect and gave her the Teaneck home's mailing address."
"A subsequent search turned up an additional $10,100 "believed to be proceeds from theft and/or money laundering activities," a fraudulent Connecticut driver's license and cocaine, according to the release. Authorities believe the model for grandparent scam originated around 2008. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, its practitioners sometimes impersonate the victim's grandchildren over the phone or email claiming to need money after being arrested, getting into an accident or being mugged."
Read at Newsday
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