They showed up thinking they were about to score big, but what they got was a one-way trip to jail. Here are five cases when dumb scammers take the bait set by cops. Number five, cash app fraud at the register. Cashier steals $3,000. Police respond to a call at a Dollar General in Florida. Loss prevention staff report a new cashier who has been using the cash app to scam the store out of thousands. Excuse them. Mhm. [Music] Excuse me. [Music] So, it was just uh her counting. Yeah. Her counting in the money and then taking a little bit at a time or it was like a multiple kind of How you doing? Yeah. How you doing? I'm Frank from Launch Prevention. How you Frank? We have an employee. What she was doing was scanning her phone, her cash app on her phone and entering close the door. Yeah. And entering funds. She also took a PlayStation gift card, loaded it, but never never she was never putting money in the register. So she ow she she loaded $775. And then she also on this day, these are all the c this is all the cash. And then on this day, she let this customer walk out with $300 worth of merchandise. That's her right there. Um, is she here now or? Yeah, she's right there. She just walked. So, everything's on here and everything's on video for you. Here you go. Mhm. Might as well call her in. She's been cooperative. She wasn't She hasn't been too many, but wants to prosecute. So, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No problem. Two, four, six, seven, eight, nine. Okay, I see it. All right. So, it'll be 300 because she on this on the sale on this sale. You see where it says aborted? She cancelled the sale. So, $300 worth of merchandise just went out. Nothing was paid for. zero car. And then these 1, two, three, and four. She was never putting money in the register, but she was loading up her her cash app. The store has receipts, timestamps, and video proof. Everything points to repeated theft. Okay, gotcha. Want to get it? I want you to get What happens is we end up in a cash shortage. So, we end up with a cash shortage. Okay. What happened to cash? It just doesn't walk. So, we start going through and the first thing I tell them is look for uh gift cards. Look for gift cards. Look for u cash app. Sure enough, she was she had her phone down below the register. So, she would pick it up, hit it, and then enter the number whatever she wanted. Gotcha. But no money would ever go in the register. Is that what she did on multiple transaction? And then the one time she let somebody walk out with the $300. Okay. Except everything was cash app except this one which was the the one sale the owner. That's a PlayStation gift card. Okay. For 75 bucks. Yeah. Gotcha. She wanted some money for her PlayStation. Gotcha. She just straight up took that, right? Yep. Okay. So, loaded it and then pretty much took it. And on video they go in order. Got you. one. Oh, what's 1520? She's coming in, right? No, I hope so. She was right outside. I just saw her by the door. Officers review the transactions. There are receipts showing no payments processed and some logs show gift cards loaded without any corresponding cash. You went to go get her. I don't know where she went. And then you Okay, so we 314 33 and then 314 and these were all on the same date on it. No, this one was on 323. So, want me to highlight the date for you? Yes. That's the first time I've ever seen it like this. I printed them out. Watch. Let me see. So, the date on this one right here. 313. 314. 314. And I see that 314. Gotcha. And then this one was on 323. Okay. Perfect. Okay. Oh, she's coming back, but I don't see her now. Let me see if she's at right here. Oh man, I'll move out of the way. Too many people. The suspect is brought inside for questioning. Officers explain the situation and reader Miranda writes what's up. down there. I want you to got yourself into Huh? Well, you know, that's not my not my call. You know, I mean, you own up to some things. You have a conversation with them. You know, that's totally up to them. You That's totally up to them, not me at this point. All right. Let me just read you this very quick. All right. All right. are required to warn you before you make any statements that the following constitution is right. If I ask you if you understand just yes or no I could clarify it. Okay. You have the right to remain silent. I answer any questions. Do you understand? Yes. Okay. Any statement must be freely and voluntarily given. Do you understand? Yes. All right. You have the right to presence and reputation of a lawyer of your choice before you make any statement during any questions. You understand? Yes. If you cannot afford a lawyer, you're entitled to the presence and reputation of a court appointed lawyer before you make any statement during any question. You understand? Yes. All right. If any time during the interview you do not wish to answer any questions, you have the presence to remain silent. You understand? Yes. Okay. If I can make no threats or promise you to induce you to make a statement, this will be of your own free will. You understand? Yes. Any statement can will be used against you in the court of law. You understand? Yes. All right. So, what's going on? So, they gave me a list of these transactions, right? Yeah, I told him I'll pay it back. I told him, "Well, I admitted to some things." He said, "He'll talk to you about maybe you can give me a She acknowledges what she did and mentions she had planned to pay it back. What's What I mean, did you need money or were you What was going on?" I had to do a walk out with a lot of stuff. Yeah, he told me about that. I think it was like $300 something dollars, right? Or something. Cash up. Okay. What happened with the cash up? Walk me through that. I did like $200. 200. And how many separate transactions you do? What? Like did you Cuz there's a couple different one. There's a green dot. There's a spin wheel. Yeah. My bad. Spin wheel. So 200. Okay. And then you did a green dot. And then what's this? What is that? Valid direct. There's another transaction for like $200 on the 14th. Okay. That's on the cash app. Cash app. And how does that work? Like with I'm not familiar with cash app. So is it just a app? You scan the card and it goes out. Okay. And it just goes on your phone. So you would just you would just load it with however much you want it and then you just scan it and it go into your account. Mhm. Okay. And then as far as the um as far as the different times where you let the person walk out, did you know the person or how did that work out? No, I know. I just use a friend like just when I be at the park and stuff. Gotcha. So they just ring up a bunch of stuff and then how does it work? They just walk out or they just ring some stuff up and walk out. Okay. The other one was trying to like, you know, it was a boy that knew me. Mhm. And he he was getting some stuff. I said, "No, he's still Okay. All right. And that was on one occasion, right? Mhm. Okay. Did you know at any point that what you were doing were wrong? I mean, did you think about it or Yeah, that's why I put it that's why I stopped it. This this job, bro. I mean, it's, you know, it's how you make your money. You know, that that cash app scam, that's temporary. You know, that 200 then that's going to obviously you going to hold it over your head that one day they might catch me. You know, ain't nothing like a steady paycheck when you get your The officer reminds her that quick, easy money always comes with consequences. And now those consequences are catching up to her. What do you think they going to do? Um, let me ask. I think the other guy was the Let me see. She She was talking and she wrote the statement as well. Yeah, she she um Your uncle's out there, too. She admitted to everything. My uncle. Your uncle? I don't know. You said she was your uncle. Yeah. So, this is the way it works. All right. and it's totally in their hands, but they're wanting to file charges. Okay. Because of the amount, all right, it would be considered grand theft. All right. And it's a felony. So, you'd have to be taken in. So, with injuries gateway in Congress, northbound lane, you 36y old female pregnant wants to be checked out. You would have to be obviously taken to the county jail and arraign and stuff like that only because of the amount. Okay. So at this point tomorrow or go to court tomorrow. I don't know. I don't really know how the bonds and stuff works. Sometimes you may get out of sometimes you might have to go see a judge the next day. I'm not sure. I mean you don't really have a record. So I mean you may be able to just bond out today tonight. Yeah. So, I hope so. I'm not trying to be She's a She's never been She's not has no prior, so probably be withheld and just pay restitution and go to the ship the uh the program. So, you'll be uh you'll be okay. Even without a criminal record, officers explained that she still has to be processed at the county jail. So, all right. Unfortunately, that's what my boss said, so I can't go against him. I got all your information. You got a card and everything? No, I don't. I'll give it to you. Just put Yeah, I'll write it on. Well, actually, put on a blank piece of paper. Do I have to go down to the polling station and take some time? Yeah, that's where we process and do everything. Let me copy this for you. No problem. And then I'll get to relax for a second. I was trying to see if your uncle out there. I'm not going anywhere. I'm not running. We'll get We'll do it on the way out. Yeah, we'll do it on the way out. Is he still still out there? Yeah. Okay. We'll holler at him when we go out there. I got you. Okay. Thank you, sir. All right. All I know is you was wearing red Crocs. Mhm. No, black Crocs. No, red. Yeah, I don't have it. He was wearing red Crocs. Yeah. I thought one of yall was coming. I don't know. You didn't know you had a problem. Oh, my phone. I was hoping it was going to be you. Make this easy. I was hoping it wasn't you. I didn't even know. I didn't know this was address. Yes, sir. Okay. Uh let's see. We got everything else. We got the receipt. Receipt's in here. With the investigation wrapped and her statement taken, they begin preparing her for transport. I don't think I got I think you underline everything. Probably right there. All right. Um the handcuffs out there or by the car. All right. I'm trying to take off now. I run fast. I don't want to embarrass you and stuff. No, I got you wanted. You wanted your uncle. I got it. is your uncle's realization. All right. DVD. Uh, I doubt you'll be in that. How long? You know. Yeah. I highly doubt it. Just hurry up in here. I know. Everybody being nosy and stuff. You see? That's when everybody want to walk their dogs and come outside. Listen, just learn from this, Mr. You're still here. Whether she bonds out or qualifies for a court program will be up to the judge, but for now, she's on her way to jail. Y'all can't put in a chance program. That's good right there. Y'all can't put in the chance program. I don't know. I don't know. What he say? He say um he said he's going to work something. Okay. We'll just check your pockets. I'm not going to terminate you. Whatever. Where? Uh the phone number just Okay. All right. I see you. All right. Oh, I move my shirt. Because the total amount stolen exceeds the felony threshold, she's charged with grand theft. Number four, stolen car, fake story. And none of it worked. Officers initiate a stop on a car reported stolen. Here's what happens when the driver is asked to step out of the vehicle. Nothing in your hands. Nothing in your hands, right? Just Coke. Just leave that bottle down there. Step on over here. Anybody else in the vehicle? No. Okay. I'll explain you what's going on. It comes back as a stolen car. Yeah. So that's But that's what's going on. Okay. What's your name? Anastasia, right? Hm. Anastasia, right? Anastasia. Okay. You got your license or anything on you? No. Okay. Do me a favor. Just stay put right here. All right. Cooperative 198. Yep. Right on the curb, if you don't mind. I'm sorry. Oh, no, no, no. Whenever we deal with these things, we want to make sure cuz we don't know who's driving it. You know what I mean? We want to be safe rather than sorry. So, you know, that's why I went ahead and pulled over by me and I was like, "Okay, just go ahead and pull over for this guy." No, thank you. I appreciate that. You're very welcome. Do you have your license on you or is it in there? I don't have it on my person or in there at all. I haven't got a copy of it. Okay. At all. Okay. All right. I'm sorry. No, it's okay. My wallet was actually taken not much long ago. Okay. I'm sorry to hear that. All right. Hey, sorry. So, this is Anastasia. Very cooperative. Um, she said she borrowed the car. There's nothing legal in there at all. No, absolutely not. I don't think I think there was a empty vodka bottle in there earlier, but I threw it out. Not mine. I can blow. I do not drink it all. I don't drink anymore. It might be. I don't think so, though. There. Nope. There it is. No, it ain't. Pretty sure it's not. I think I threw it out. The officers stayed calm and explained the situation, letting her know the vehicle was flagged as stolen. Right. Yes. Hey, you did the smartest thing. I appreciate you being aware of your surroundings and and and you being nothing but cooperative. So, you have my kudos. Um, not a lot of people, you know, unfortunately this is as they see they try dodgy. Yeah. So, I appreciate um you know what your your level of cooperation. I wouldn't have noticed you unless it's the first car. Like it didn't look like a cop car cuz our our SUVs are like those where I'm from. Where do you live? Uh in Georgia. In Georgia. What you doing down there? My cousin is your cousin. Okay. So, who's the owner? Exactly. If it's not red on your rotation, please fill up hard just to let somebody borrow it. I don't understand that. It really didn't even charge. I mean, I did pay to borrow it, but I only paid like 70 bucks to borrow it. It was like a quick 70 bucks. I guess that's insane. It's a lot of hassle for $70. Do y'all mind if I stand up? This is so short. But just stay like over here. 12 days clean, y'all. Clean. So I was like, there's absolutely nothing in there cuz I've been clean for 12 days. Clean from what? Everything. Absolutely everything. Oh, you did everything? Yes. 12 days clean under my belt. That's like the most I've had in my entire life. So I'm excited like I'm like pumped. Yeah. 12 days like when I was little my parents so I used to um pull bottle turn out the microwave at 5 years old. Anastasia says she's been clean for 12 days and talks about her history with addiction. So 12 days is only 2% can come back from the needle. 2% of people come back from the needle. And I'm not going to be a statistic. I refuse. I absolutely refuse to be a statistic. Will never happen. I finally had enough of it and just walked away from it. Scotch free. Didn't touch it. Threw everything away. Burned everything. 8891 91. Thank you. Do you have a license out of Georgia? Yes. What is that? Wait. I really didn't know that was in there. I've been playing for 12 days in there. Hollywood was in it. I love it. by heart. No, no, I'm not good with numbers. I'm just like I'm sorry. I've never been able to remember any kind of number. It's like once you're at nine, I don't even know my left and right. I hardly have time. It's sad. I have no sense of direction. I've literally lived in the same town for seven years and it took me three years to get to Walmart with without GPS. I I apologize. Anastasia. She said she borrowed the vehicle from Red. Red. I Do you know the actual name? No, she just goes by Red Down in West Palm. Where? Uh from uh yeah, West. Tampa. Tampa. My bad. Tampa. Sorry. She's from Tampa. She said she's out of Georgia. Unfortunately for her, the officers find pills in the car. Police explained they're taking the pills for safekeeping and continue their questioning. All right. Um, sorry. R's my cousin Pam's friend. So, here's the thing. Those those pills, right? Yeah, those pills. And we're not we're not trying to implicate you or anything like that, but we're not going to let you go with them with them pills and they don't even belong to you. I know I know you say they're your cousins. Oh, yes. I'll let her know. You We're leaving and I'm not getting in trouble for stealing the car. I didn't steal. Here's what's going to happen. Take the pills, right? Hear me out. Here's what's going to happen is we're going to take possession of those pills as as for safekeeping, right? [Applause] Sorry. I've been playing for 12 days and if I know that was in there and I thought it would lead, I would. And I'm glad I didn't. I thought that was I thought it was he stayed up on the thing and if I know that was in there if it was No, I didn't see the colors to it. I just seen him sipping whenever he turned around backwards. What's your uh first name? Anastasia. A na. S T A S I A. How did you end up in Palm Beach County? I was in Tampa. That's not far. Now, I went to Tampa from Sarasota to get the car from Red to go to Riverview where my tongue is. My other cousin's at Palm Beach. Where is where is Palm Beach County on the map? Right here. No, I don't know where I'm at on the map. Like, I'm trying to think which way. East coast. Sarasota's wast. You're on the complete opposite side of the state. The driver's license that comes out of Georgia looks nothing like you. What do you mean? I got I got contact. Okay. So, what I'm lost I I don't know. I don't know. But what I'm I'm not trying to call you out or anything like that. Okay. But here the thing is right now technically we can arrest you. Clear the air. Officers are skeptical due to the confusion and begin to doubt her identity. She struggles to give straight answers about where she's been or where she's going. Okay. If you're nervous about a suspended license, that's the least of my worries. What I'm worried about is making sure that you're not like a missing endangered person or something. What is your name? I'm going to tell you I'm going to tell you straight up. She's like the pad. Yeah. What is your name? Because I only started last week, right? Come on now. I finished bringing Larry's hand today. Ah, no kidding. I really didn't steal the car though. I swear. You have a warrant. I'm already bring one. How do you spell Briana? B R I A N A N. You're man. I really didn't. You're wasting all these officers time. I really didn't spill it though. I swear. You could go to jail. Just run to us. They tortured me in there. Where? What? Jail. I don't want to go back. Yeah. Anastasia, right? I know. That's my sister's name. I just really don't want to go back to jail. Like, I can't I can't. Look, look at this resource that could be saving lives. Sorry. I don't know why you showed up at 16. Holy cow. Literally, I do at three different jails. I've had three different names. You're the most confusing person I've ever met. Stand up. Stand up. I mean, you can stay seated. That's fine. Put your hands behind your back. Stand up. Put your hands like you're praying. [Music] Though she maintains she didn't steal the car, police arrest her for providing a false name. They also suggest she could be charged for other violations depending on further findings. Stand off street. You're putting strain on yourself by leaning forward like that. You're not going to not go to jail. So nothing you say or do is going to get you out of it. Okay? So let's just make it easy and get it over with. Okay? We'll go to your car. Going to jail. I'll search your car. What are you charging me with? False name is one. What else? Well, false names enough. So, she's ultimately charged with grand theft auto and fraud for giving a false name to law enforcement. Number three, cops investigate fraud, end up making a bigger arrest. Police are called to a local bank for a check fraud investigation. Here's what happens next. Sir, you have an ID on you? I don't. You don't uh I'm in process of getting you what? I mean it's in uh process. In process okay sir. Yeah. I'm trying to get my um Okay. What's your name? Go ahead and just hand it to me out the roof. All right. Stay in the vehicle. All right. [Applause] I need your ID as well. What's that? I don't have mine. You don't have one? Yes, sir. You're not being Hey, they are You are detained. They are detained. Why am I being detained? cuz you are part of an investigation for a fraud right now. You're part I'm just trying to get to work. All right. About to be late. I need to catch a bus. Okay. Well, sorry to say, but pick better friends, right? So, I'm going to grab your ID here in a second or grab your info in a second. [Applause] Are you being detained under what you're under investigation? Investigation request. Who are you talking to? Unless you are actually being detained in handcuffs, you do not have to give information. What's your last name? No, you don't have to give any of that. [Applause] Okay, at this point you guys are all suspect in a fraud. Okay. The group becomes uneasy, but officers stay professional and continue collecting information. So, would everybody like to go in handcuffs and then we go through this process? Yes, they are being detained. I've already told them they're detained. Okay. Okay. So, are they I don't know who you are, so I'm not talking to you anymore. Oh, I know. But I'm an attorney. So, check this out. Let me give you So, I'm an attorney. Okay. So, what is your last name? Okay. Just to be clear. Just to be clear, you guys, none of you guys are free to go at this point. Am I clear? I'm sorry. All right. Two six. Okay. I'm going to go throw him in handcuffs. Yeah. Uh, who is she on a protection order with? I don't think it's who's in the I don't think it's the Gonzalez guy, but Okay. Mr. Moore, step by the vehicle if you're being detained in handcuffs. I guess I'm being I'm being detained in handcuffs now. He's got warrants for his arrest. Cuz I got warrants. Give me the phone. I need to get Yes. Okay. Yeah. Go ahead and sip out. Turn around. Put your hands behind your back. They're going to hang it up right now themselves. No, they're not. Yes, he is. He's handling my phone. As officers work through the group's details, they discover one person has active warrants. That individual is quickly detained and placed in handcuffs. How is that okay if you cut her off? I don't need to talk to her or listen to her. She's not part of this incident. Well, if you want to talk to your attorney, you can call her later. Right now, we'll take care of something else. All right. So, you be detained for warrants right now. One George is supposed to one detain. Go ahead and confirm, please. The right to remain silent. Anything you say can't be used against you in the court of law. You have the right this time to talk to a lawyer or have one present with you while you're being questioned. If you can't afford to hire a lawyer, one will be appointed before any question if you wish. You can decide at any time to exercise your rights, not answer your questions or make any statements. You understand your rights? Having this in mind, are you willing to have a conversation with me? Sure. Perfect. Thank you. So, like I said, you've got warrants for your arrest currently. Once I confirm that you are actually who you say you are, and if the jail wants to confirm on the warrants, we'll be making a trip to Walking County Jail. Probably make sense. All right. Give me weapons on you all. Just going to patch you down real quick. So, is that just a phone? Just another phone. I'm going to pull it out. It's a hard object. No needles or anything like that that's going to stab me or poke me. You do a little bit better when it's not so cold later on if they decide to confirm your warrants. Let's go ahead and go back where we have his back on control. Officers tell him that once his identity is officially confirmed and the warrants are verified, he'll be transported to county jail. The process continues with patowns for safety. Let's get you out of the cold at least. Huh? Have a seat. [Applause] [Applause] What do you wear? I can hear right. Oh, yeah. Okay. Well, you're not free to go yet. What about driver? Driver. I think he just came back. The driver? Yeah, I think [Applause] what is her receive code for? You copy that? All right. So, I'm not worried about some minor like that, but the jail does care. So if you end up in the jail and you have any on you, it's going to be felony charges for you. Okay? So if you have anything that's going to stab me, poke me, cut me, tell me about it now. Okay? A little bit. I got a little bit of that in my back pocket here. Okay? And I'll and I'll thanks for telling me that. If it's if it's just a little bit, I'll take it to the station. I'll destroy it. Okay. Fair enough. Yeah. Are these keys to this car or your own car or they're my old car? Okay. In my bedroom that has my my house behind it. During the search, officers find something suspicious tucked inside the man's pocket. It's cold out here, huh? Yeah. Check out here. And this is the pocket that you said. Yeah. Just in a little jar. Yeah. [Applause] 26. Who are these people to you? That's the mother of my children and their fathers. And that's me. Great Pyramid Films. Yeah. Who's that? It's from an old job from Arizona. Okay. Doing like um like rigging for stadiums for like concerts and stuff. Okay. So, when I got paid from them and I tried to cash it, they didn't have enough money in the account for whatever reason. I think I got kind of screwed on that one, but Okay. So, when did they write you this check? Back in like August or September. Okay. I didn't even know that it was in my pocket still. I haven't worn this jacket in a long time. Although the officer tells him the substance will be destroyed, the man still needs to be processed. I don't know. That's not my check. That's my That's the mother of my children. Okay. All right. See you there. Me just a little so I can get it here a little easier. What's in this pocket here? Cat. or mats or something. Yeah, this is really big. [Applause] So, $2 and look like about a dollar something and some change. Yeah. Stuff that back in there, right? She still pockets on the inside here. All right, go ahead and jump in there. Staying professional, officers proceed with evidence handling and documentation. [Applause] [Music] You have a small evidence bag. Just a small evidence bag. Just a little just for destruction. 6. So I got to get uh your own she's right now. Okay. And then uh We got it for fraud and oh car. Are those the checks? Two more checks that he had. All right. So, we got some PSP on that possibly. I don't know if these are enough. All right. Do we need to hold these guys off? Um, at this point, we're probably good. Let me confirm that he was clear. You're the driver. Do you want these keys kept with you or you want me to give these keys to them or what? Okay. They then search the vehicle for any additional items and begin determining who can be released. The primary suspect, however, remains in custody. So, I'm going to give all these keys and your chapstick to those guys. All right. One George 26. [Applause] Just to confirm Benj was clear of any felonies and status was clear for drivers. Where you see? So, you said to leave these keys with you. There's your [Applause] ID. What's that? Yeah, you're going to be free to go. So, just be mindful. You guys are on videotape now, okay? If other stuff comes up, we'll figure out who you are. We'll track you down, take you to jail, right? So, be mindful. We're keeping an eye out. You're in a car with girl with stolen checks and a guy that probably has stolen checks in his pocket, too. We just haven't confirmed it yet. So, feel free to back out and have a good day. While they're not being charged today, they're warned they may be tracked down again if new evidence surfaces. Number two, man busted posing as sheriff with fake police gear. Law enforcement officers confront a man named Anthony who is once again caught impersonating a police officer. Here's the problem, bro. We discussed this, Anthony. I know. I know, man. This is my dog. I got you, but the dog couldn't go with you in the back of my car. I live in the mother house, dude. I ain't do nothing wrong with I know. We're done. We're done dealing with you, Anthony. No, man. Look, dude. I want I can wear this uniform, man. I wear this for long, man. I wear this for long. This Anthony stop. This is not turban, though. Is it your fake weapon you have on you today? Yeah, I always I don't have anywhere on I own I don't really man the hoods man. My girl in the hood I'm going there dude. I go I go all the time and never talk wearing this clothes. This ain't dang right. Got to pass the point of me dude protect myself from the dudes man. They shot me three times dude. I'm tired of man. How [Music] protect how I'm going to protect myself from those guys? No I'm not. I'm I'm going from my house to his house. I'm to her. Sir, you always I'm going to her house, not walking around. I be going to location, sir. I'm not like that. I go location house, dude. I got to protect myself from the dude. I I live in bad areas. You're going to get over that. I No, I don't do this, dude. Like with I have Dude, I take away all the people for no reason. No, I protect myself all the time. I got you, dude. These people telling me three times, dude. I can't have no myself. Stop. I mean, man, just stop this stuff. Sorry, you done got me flustered on. My bad, dude. I just And I got you in the back of my car. Okay. My bad. The officers are clearly familiar with Anthony from previous encounters and express their exasperation. As they prepare to detain him, Anthony delays and struggles to get into the police car. Yeah. Not hyena. Hyena. Hyena. Yeah. She's a beauty. She's a service. Anything special? No. Anything else on you today? Roger down. Copy. Copy. We have a shut down. Anthony, we're not doing this today. Anthony, come on. We have a shut down. up on me. Let know I'm lie to you, buddy. Maybe my back, too, so I hope I had the inside. Probably got catch more charges. Let's go. I Dude, I can't I can't wear this. Get inside the car, Anthony. Get up right here, man. Anthony, I'm old, so I got to get right to get to church, get myself in, dude. My leg is broken. Come on, Anthony. Thank you, Anthony. Oh, I'm sorry, man. You got your time, but he's just in that program. No, he's not. Oh, no. I wrote him a I think he used to be fire service. That's good. You got another arrest report on top of the warrant. 14. Where the uh suspect or the victim from this disaster? Hello. Is that it? I would say probably in the notes of the call that you look like a fingerprint. watch all this stuff real quick. Uh, can you just go ahead and make sure they're not going to extra right now? I mean, there there's code for certain things, right? Watch it. Hypothetically. Meanwhile, witnesses approach the officers to report that Anthony has been walking around pretending to be a law enforcement. Hey, are y'all the ones that called? Yes. All right. We've been trying to find him for a while. He does. They like got several warrants for doing this. Okay. Um so what all happened? Uh we were getting ready to go to the store and I saw him uh uh walking out from uh State Street and I knew that was the guy that threatened uh our nephew. Mhm. And uh came home. When did that happen at? Uh two two three weeks ago. Yeah. Investigator that came back already. I know. And y'all didn't posly identify him? Yeah. Mhm. I'll try to call the investigator. Habitual for this. Yeah. Uh we've seen walking up and down the street, but uh we were always going somewhere, but this time we just took the time to Okay. So So what happened when you saw him today? Uh I just uh followed him. Uh I went around. So someone said something about a gun. Yeah, he had the gun when uh he threatened us uh a couple of weeks ago. Oh, couple. So he didn't do it today. No, not today. Not today. Okay. Yeah. Did you say that today? Yeah. He told us though that he was with the sheriff's office. Yeah. That's like the worst. I need a really good address cuz I don't want to take that dog to the town. That dog didn't do good [ __ ] to anybody. Just him. Huh? Just him. So, I need to I need a good address so I can go put that dog with somebody cuz I'm not taking it to the pound. He's given you address. He didn't, but I thought you were going to go talk to him cuz you about to That's the one thing. Or his girlfriend. Let me go take the car the dog to his girlfriend at least. Do that. Uh, let me call the investigator and see what he wants with y'all for that real. Yeah, that right here. No, he's all the way up here. Wait, the dog? No, I got the dog. Oh, yeah. He's all the way in mine up here. They stress the gravity of impersonating law enforcement, especially if he encounters someone who believes he's real and retaliates. You're going to jail for pretending to be law enforcement. I wasn't, dude. I'm neighborhood. I just helped. Just dude neighborhood. I'm in the whole neighborhood, man. And you're going to go and get you got a warrant. You got a warrant. Remember I told you get a warrant last time, right? Yes, but I checked. I wasn't there at all. You got a warrant for that for pretending to be the police. And you're catching another charge today for pretending to be police, too. It's completely unacceptable to go around and pretend to be the police cuz that's how people get killed. I don't take that lightly that someone could get killed because you're and go around and pretend to be the police when you're not the police. That is a serious thing to do. I know. I know, man. Serious. Because that puts trust issues in law enforcement when you go around pretend to be the sheriff's office when you're not carrying around a fake gun. I'm tired of your [ __ ] We've been dealing No, Anthony, shut up. We've been dealing with you doing this. We're sick and tired of it. Someone's going to get killed because you want to be pretend you're the police. You want to walk around with a fake gun, pull it on people, and you're going to get shot and killed because you're going to pull that fake gun on a real gangster one day and get killed cuz you're being stupid. I didn't pull on no one like that. I I had on. They never seen that cuz I saw it. You walk around with fake guns. You're going to get shot cuz you're stupid. I keep jumping on by dudes in hood. On top of the fact that you think you're us and pretend to be us. I keep jumping on and you tell people you're us, which is unacceptable. But y'all want y'all want do help me help me brother like do nothing about like I can jump on I call y like not you but the other ones don't respond man I got uh the uh I think it's the the uh I think father or something a witness of the original incident who positively identified Anthony as the one that beat that or beat that person at the store. They said that the investigators showed up to do a photo lineup and they couldn't possibly identify him, but they saw him walking down the road today and called it in saying they saw him. No, this is Anthony, the guy that probably tends to be the police. As Anthony continues to offer inconsistent stories, officers reaffirm the charges he'll face both for this incident and past offenses. Let me do Oh, you want to do a warrant later on? What's your girlfriend's name? Helena. Helena. Helena. What? Helena May. Helina. H Al Helena. Alina. A L E N A. First name Alina. Yeah. Last name. I don't know her name. Okay. He doesn't have a girlfriend. Doesn't even know who his girlfriend name is. Did he tell both of y'all today he worked for the sheriff's office? What all exactly did he had a several with the sheriff's office there say like deputy sheriff or he said he was with the sheriff's office. All right. What else? What was he saying? Uh he just kept telling us to to go along and and uh he was a a not Yeah, that's part of his spiel too. Was he like Was he like Was it like he was pretending like how have we have our mics up here? He was pretending like he was talking to the sheriff's office. He said he's got warrants for pretending to be the police already. Well, we you guys were looking for I've been trying to find this man. We have no clue where he lives. Oh, for us on once y'all told him once y'all said wearing all black and dog, I was like that's my man. If Anthony stopped you pretending to be a cop, would you fall for the act or spot the scam right away? Drop your thoughts in the comments. Number one, this grandma just took down a $150,000 scam attempt. A 100year-old woman in Massachusetts receives a call from someone claiming to be her son saying he's in jail and needs $10,000 for bail. Scared and emotional, she rushes to the bank to withdraw the money. But the teller sees how distressed she is and decides to alert the police before anything happens. Here's a snippet of the call. Good morning. Uh this is Simona. I'm calling from the Cape Cod 5 here in Yarmas. How are you? Good, thanks. I have a customer with me who got a call from someone claiming to be her son and uh instructed her to withdraw $10,000 cash. Okay. So, it looks like she gave them her address. They're going to go to her house to get the money. So, we're just a little worried that someone will be waiting for her when she goes home since she gave them her address. Where is she right now? Officers arrive at the bank and speak with both the teller and the woman. Hi, Hi, how are you? Long time no see. Long time no see. I know. How are you? Good. We have uh this old lady in that office over there. Okay. It looks like she gave her access to some scammers. So, I'm just worried to let her go home. Okay. Um they had said her son needs urgently $10,000. They called her son. He wasn't him. And I just don't know what to do with her. You know, they have her address. Okay. So, you talked to someone on the phone? Yeah, because we have his phone number here on and he said it wasn't him. Yeah. Okay. Can you All right. Can you just print out his contact info for me? Uh, cuz I'll I'll end up calling him, too. So, I know he doesn't live in this state. The address I have for him is her address, but that's that's Do you just have a phone number, then? Yeah. Beautiful. All right. I'll go talk to her. Sure. [Music] Hi, ma'am. I'm the woman that that was scammed, I guess. Oh, I don't know. Were you scammed yet? My name's Jefferson. Uhhuh. My name's Jefferson. Oh, hi, Jefferson. So, I just had a couple questions for you. Go right ahead. Did has she taken any money out? All right. So, no money's been taken out. Good. So, good first step. They want They said they only want cash. Okay. So, I said, "Well, I don't have that cash in the house. I have to go to the bank." Yep. Well, all right. Now, call us when you get back from the bank. She explains what happened and admits she already gave her home address to the caller. So, I never got back from the bank. On the way, what's your address? On the way for my address and I gave it to them. Okay. But then on the way up, I'm saying to myself, My son wouldn't call and ask for $10,000 like that. I have to have it today. You were smart, right? So, all right. So, they told you to come to the bank and then when you got home, you're going to call them? Yeah. Did they say anything else? Oh, they asked me my my address. Um I said, "Well, bank's going to want to know why I'm on $10,000." He says, "Tell them it's personal. you're going Christmas shopping or um you're having some work done in your kitchen and the guy wants cash and so how are they communicating with you? Is it yourself? Is it your cell phone? No, I don't have a cell phone. How are they communicating with you? Um they call me on my phone. Call you on your landline? Yeah. Do you have the phone number you're supposed to call them back at? Yeah. Is that at home? Yeah. Okay. All right. Um I'm probably going to come home with you then. Lucky you. Yeah. People have had to work a lot harder. Espresso. I made a green espresso. All right. All right. Sounds good. I'll probably uh find all that. Did you drive here? Do you have anyone waiting for you? I drive. Okay. So, you don't have anyone waiting for you? Pardon me? No one's waiting for you. It's your car. No. No. I'm driving. All right. Thank you guys. I don't look like I can, but I do. And I have a very nice driving. No. I probably better than mine. Thank you very recognizing the signs of a classic bail scam, police move fast, setting up a sting operation to catch the scammers red-handed. Just then, her concerned son calls and officers fill him in on what's really going on. No one's lost any money. The bank flagged it when she went in and called us. Okay. So, no funds have been la lost. I'm with her now. I'm just going to have some follow-up questions with her and one of my detectives is coming out just to assist us with it. Okay. Okay. I just want to make sure. So, for right now, she has not lost any money. There's no money lost, and she's in no danger. Okay. Thank you. All righty. Did I just say one thing? Yeah. And she wants to talk to you again, but there's the there's the short down and dirty of it. Okay. Thank you. Here she is. I'm not going to take you, hun, but on my way up to the bank, I said I have to talk to you. When I get to the bank, the first thing I'm going to do is ask to call you. And that's what I did usually. Okay. You know, I mean, I've never been scammed, hun. And I haven't been I spoke to a bailed bondsman. Well, all right. No, no money's passed, huh? Cuz I I don't give my money away that freely, Mom. I have millions of dollars. Why would I ask you for money? Bye. Bye. He's a He's a retired um broker. Oh, really? He passed his sixth, seven, and eight. He took his things down at the World Trade Center in Manhattan. Really? Where he went for his test. So, he invests, but he invests very wisely. I was going to say it sounds like if you have his millions of dollars, he's quite a smart investor. He's got very wisely in. He had a restaurant and after the restaurant, there's one. Oh, what kind of restaurant? He had a restaurant called You have You want me to sit in Orleans? I feel bad talking down at you. Oh, what was the restaurant in Orleans name? We had the North Beach Club in the '9s. Oh, very cool. Yeah. Police set up a bait drop at the woman's home, stuffing a bag with fake cash and coordinating the pickup time with the scammers. Right now, I'm just waiting to hear uh in like 10 minutes, I'll hear from my detective. Okay. Feels like calling. No, don't call. Call the Bill Bunsman and tell him to step off. No. If anything, we may have you call him and say you have the money. Maybe I'll be afraid to be here alone. You know, no, you wouldn't be alone through it. We we we'd be here. Oh, but like I said, it's it's going to be up to my detective how he wants to. He may call them himself or I'm not sure. But so right now, we deal with these things. We just dealt with one earlier this week. I said to the girl, "Do you have $10,000 in in cash?" She says, I She must have looked at you like he had bills. The first time this ever happened to me. Here's my detective calling. He is really here most of the time, but he has a condo in uh because his wife has a little business. Oh gosh. Hold on one second. Hey, what's up, boss? Basically, the long and short is she received a call from a bail bondsman. Her son was involved in an accident, blah blah blah. 10,000 cash. Call us when you have the money at your house. And she gave him her address. Did they say how they wanted the money packaged? No, just 10,000 cash. 10,000 cash. Had to be cash. And they said to call Did I give you a check? No, no, no. It has to be cash. And they said to call you when you had the cash. So, no packaging instructions yet. The woman remains safe inside while officers monitor the area closely. I do. Yeah. Just so you can Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, sounds good. And I'll text you the number. All right, we'll see you. So, I got good news and bad news. What? Um, good news is that the detective's coming out. Bad news, you're stuck with me for another like 30 minutes waiting for him. Oh, the bad news is what? That you're stuck with me in your house. Would you like a cup of espresso? Oh, no. You don't have to do that. Moments later, the scammer calls and the woman plays along, setting the trap in motion. Okay, I'm waiting for my ride. You waiting for your ride to go to the bank? Yes. Who's going to take you to the bank? The ride. Uber. Uber. Okay, that's No problem. Okay, bye. Yeah, look it. A man shows up at a nearby shopping plaza where the fake drop is staged. Come here. Turn around. Hey, anything on you, man? It's a body cam. Okay, you're being reported right now. Uh, you have the right to remain silent. Anything you say kind of and will be used against your reporter or other proceeding. You have the right to speak to an attorney and have him present during during any question. If you cannot afford an attorney, attorney will be appointed to you. Okay. You can also uh you can choose to speak, you can stop at any time. Okay. Do you have any questions about any of that? Okay. What's your name, partner? Carlos. Carlos. Okay. Where's your car? We're going to find it with that one. What's that? Yeah, sorry about that. Nearby, officers spot a second person sitting in a car. Stay with her with the door open. You speak English? Okay. Um, I'm just going to advise you of your rights. Okay. We don't know exactly what's going on yet. Um, who is Carlos to you? He's my boyfriend. He's your boyfriend. Okay. He's currently under arrest. Um, I just want you to know your rights, okay? You have the uh right to remain silent. Anything you say can will be used against you in a court of law or other proceedings. Okay? You have the right to speak to an attorney and have an attorney present during any question. If you cannot afford an attorney and want one, one will be appointed uh by the Commonwealth at no cost to you. You choose to answer questions, you can stop at any time. Do you understand all that? Yes, sir. Okay. Anything in the car that you need to know about? I mean, I don't know anything. I just What What was he doing here? What was he coming here to do? He came to um CVS. We came at Chinese food. Okay. Who was he coming here to meet? Oh, I don't know. Do you have a cell phone in there? Yeah. Can I see your phone real quick, please? All right. And whose car is this? Haya, this is his car. It's his car. Okay. Now, why don't you jump out? You've been in trouble before? No. Okay. We want to keep it that way, right? I'm so scared. I don't know what's going on. Well, well, Carlos is involved in something. Um, but what I can tell you is he's probably just a courier here to pick something up, take it someplace. That's more what I'm interested in. Okay. Um, so, you know, he didn't just come here to go to CVS. He came here, I'm sure, you know, we have his cell phone. I'm sure he's tracking something on his cell phone. knows when somebody's showing up because he walked right over to him. Okay. She says she doesn't know what's going on, but officers aren't buying it. Her vague answers raise more questions. So, the the lost babe in the woods routine might not work. Um, you know, so I'll ask you again. What are you guys doing here? I don't know. For real. I don't know anything. I just I just came with him, but I don't know. He's my boyfriend, but I don't know the deal. Like, you know. Mhm. Was he here with anybody else or is it just the two of us? Just me and him. But I we usually, you know, get um we do Instacart. What's Instacart? What is that? We we grab things from um restaurants and stuff like that. A package like people call for orders. Yeah, that's not this. That's not what this is. This is your portable back, buddy. Um, so what we're going to do is we probably cause a search and potentially seize your car. Okay? Um, but we're going to search your car. What's going to jam you up? If I'm being honest with you, if there's evidence of any other crime in that car, if that's not the only package he picked up today, then you're going to have a big big problem. Okay? So, be upfront and honest with me right now. Because like I said, see that man says, "Master, we're going to search your car." Your car. So, I need to know if there's anything else. Any other packages? If you made any other stops earlier today, this is I don't know anything. You don't know anything? Okay. You want to search the car, buddy? Just wanted a hand search. [Music] So you're from Lawrence. He's from Muin. Yet you're in Worcester at a Chuck-e-Cheese parking lot. Despite her continued denials, officers uncover even more suspicious items inside the vehicle. Yeah, but like I said, we go for like I used to this going with him to pick up things like for Instacart. Yeah, it's not Instacart. It's not Instacart. This is it right here. All right. [Music] Are you guys Dominican or what? I'm I'm Dominican, but I'm not Dominican. Yeah. Okay. Well, I don't Oh my god. It's me. What is going on? Well, he's under arrest. You may be, too. Well, I can find Don't No, no, no. How long you guys been together? I mean, I've been with him for a long time, but I don't know what he's into. You guys like We don't live together. Yeah. You guys have kids? Yeah, we have one child. How old? She's 9 years old. 9 years old. Told you to start going through it. Yeah. Great. Awesome. And whose car is it? Okay. And what's all this stuff in the glove box? Looks like you got a thousands and thousands of dollars in there. Oh my god. See? What are you doing? Well, and ma'am, I mean, not for nothing, the the keys to access the glove box. The key to go. She's got to go, too. There's thousands of dollars in the glove box. Ma'am, the keys to access the glove box were in your side, and you're sitting directly in front of it as well. So, I mean, I I insist you talk to the trooper with anything you want to provide. Okay. Feeling the pressure, the woman finally admits she and the man have done similar pickups before. This is a first pickup today. But listen, listen, listen, listen. You never been in trouble before. You're going back. Listen to me. Listen to I understand. But but but here's the thing. Here's the thing. When you got out of the car, what did I tell you? You got probably 10 or $20,000 right there. And what that tells me is you guys have been very busy today. Okay. This is this is not your first pickup today. No. So, this is what's going to happen. Look at me. Look at me. You need to start thinking about yourself and you need to start thinking about your kids. I can I told you I can help you out. You're not helping yourself out. What can I do? Thinking about I lock the truck. Lock the truck. I can I told you I can help you out. You're not helping yourself out. What can I do? What can I do? Don't lie to me. Tell him what you want. Why you want to know? Tell me about what is going to get easier for me. He's already a drone. I don't know what's going to happen. I don't have nothing to do. He just pick me up. Oh yeah, we got like 10. I want to make it right. Not a problem. I never been under arrest. I never been on this. I just want to make a flight. 30 roughly a little more. I don't I don't have any. Police suspect they're part of a larger operation targeting elderly victims. But this time they shut it down before any money is lost. I don't I I don't none of that. I don't need that. I don't want Okay. Well, so you I I you know, you know, because you drove him here and he didn't say, "Hey, I'm going to go shopping to go buy a new couch." He says, "I'm going to go here for what?" Okay, he'll pull your car around. Let's talk. Tell me about how to drive. Okay. Well, tell me about your day. You know what he's doing. Yes or no? Yes. Okay. Tell me Tell me what happened. going someplace else. I'm going to tell you. Okay. When I saw the money that he got Mhm. You guys already know what's going the deal, right? Cuz you guys detective. Exactly. And I see a lot of detective things. So, I know that. I wasn't, but I don't know how to drive. How can I get into from a situation out of a situation like this? I saw the money and I tell them, "What are you doing?" I think you know more. You do know more. What are you doing? This is not a rodeo. I swear to God, I sold to my kids. I saw them and I told him, "What are you doing with this money?" And I'm like, "Oh my god, I'm not I'm not into this. I don't want this." Like, you see, if you seen if you've been seeing him, I haven't been like going out with him anywhere. I just stayed in the car. Listen, you are not helping yourself at all right now. So, what do you want me to tell you? It's very simple. Okay? you what you're doing. This is what you just told that he had all this money and he did this and No, no, no. I'm not saying that he had the money. Okay. But that it was in the car. No, that he got the money when I saw the I don't know. He got the package for someone. Where? I think it was from Uber or something. I don't know. Okay. With the scam fully exposed, coming clean is their only remaining option. Where did he park? In this parking lot. Yeah. How now? As I look around, Maria, I see a camera there. There's none around here. There's a camera there. Okay. And they're all capturing the parking lot. So, we'll know. There's a green space over there. Listen to me. What we're going to see when we look at these cameras. What are we Well, I'll ask you. What are we going to see when we go pull this video footage at the registry at the uh whatever's grand opening it is there? What we're going to see is you guys coming in and parking and meeting people. Meeting people. people. No meeting people. I'm not meeting anyone. But he is I'm wrong. So So the thing is what the money has to go into the glove box. That's when I And you were there and you saw I saw everything and I it got in like I don't know how they do those things. I don't even know who got him the package. I don't know who who I don't know anything. And that's what you want to know. I don't know anything. Let's back up a couple minutes. I just know whatever happened here today. Okay. What time did you guys show up here approximately? How long were you in this parking lot? Exactly what time? I don't know. I know that I was eating the Chinese food like around 12 12:00. Yeah, around. Okay. Well, it's 2:30. But I, like I said, I've been here for a while already. Very, very simple question. Very simple, Maria. Very simple. How many people did he meet up with while you guys were here? How many Ubers with that? The ones with just one. That's the only one that I got. Where's that money going? Where does Carlos take? I swear to God, I don't know. Thanks to quick thinking and seamless teamwork between the officers and the elderly woman, over $150,000 in scam money is successfully recovered. In the end, they got exactly what they didn't see coming: charges, consequences, and zero sympathy. Drop your thoughts in the comments below.