I’m not victim blaming, really, I’m not, but I don’t understand how people fall for pretty well known scams. It has happened again.

Police say that a Newark man scammed a Connecticut woman out of $7,000 with a very popular con. According to authorities, Walter DeAlmeida, of Newark, called an elderly woman in Fairfield, Connecticut, and claimed to be her nephew.

He told the woman that he had been arrested for drunk driving in New Jersey and was being held on $90,000 bond, police said. He then told her that he needed money to get out of jail, police said.

Police say the victim then wired him $7,000 to bail him out. Fortunately, the woman wised up and, suspecting she had been fooled, contacted police.

Police identified DeAlmeida as the alleged perpetrator of the scam and an arrest warrant was issued on charges of larceny. He turned himself in earlier this month. He is scheduled to appear in court later this month, according to the Patch.

Along with fake IRS collection calls and fake charities, the “relative in peril” con is one of the most common scams. According to US News and World Report, approximately 1 in 6 Americans lost money to a phone scam in the past 12 months.

Experts advise that you talk to elderly relatives about the various phone scams since they often target seniors. I’ve always thought that elderly people who’ve seen it all would be less likely to fall for scams but apparently crooks hope the mark is hard of hearing which helps them pull off the trick.

The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Bill Doyle. Any opinions expressed are Bill Doyle's own.

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