NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — Police are searching for a scammer who they say swindled an 87-year-old Manhattan man out of thousands of dollars in cash late last month.
Authorities say the incident began around 11 a.m. on Thursday, July 29 when the victim received a phone call from an unknown man asking for money to bail his grandson out of jail.
The victim agreed to post bail and collected approximately $8,500 in cash, police said.
Authorities say the scammer arrived at the victim’s home in the vicinity of First Avenue and East 52nd Street around 1:30 p.m. and collected the cash.
It remains unclear if the suspect knew the victim prior to this interaction.
The scammer fled the scene in an unknown direction.
Authorities describe the suspect as a Hispanic man who wore eyeglasses and was last seen in a green and blue baseball cap, blue shirt, green pants and white sneakers.
Anyone with information in regard to this incident is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the CrimeStoppers website at https://crimestoppers.nypdonline.org/ or on Twitter @NYPDTips. All calls are strictly confidential.