Setauket woman scammed out of $650G by phony FBI agent, DA says
An 87-year-old Setauket was scammed out of more than $650,000 by a con artist claiming to be an FBI agent before authorities were alerted and were able to recover $140,000 of the money, the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office said Friday.
The victim was told her Social Security number and identity had been stolen and used to rent a car that was linked to an apparent crime in Texas. She was put in touch with “FBI Special Agent Johnson,” who advised her to send money to others for safekeeping and to obtain a new Social Security number. In total, the woman sent the scammer cashier’s checks totaling more than $650,000 over the course of five months beginning in July, prosecutors said.
“Scammers are becoming more and more sophisticated, and they are preying on our vulnerable elderly population,” District Attorney Ray Tierney said in a statement. “The public needs [to] be made aware of how they operate so they can take precautions to safeguard their funds if they are targeted.”
Local law enforcement was made aware of the scam in December by an investigator in Indiana, who obtained the local victim’s name while working on another case.
Tips to avoid being scammed
- Hang up the phone on anyone who requests personal information or money and do not respond to similar emails.
- Call your bank or the agency the scammer says they are from using published phone numbers, not a number the scammer gives you.
- Consult an expert or law enforcement, or just speak with your dependable friends or relatives about the phone conversation, before accepting the story as true and sending money.
- If you or someone you know may have been a victim of this or any scam, please call the Suffolk County Police Department’s Financial Crimes Unit at 631-852-6821 or the Nassau County Office of Crime Victims at 516-571-1598.
Source: Suffolk County District Attorney's Office
“Due to the diligence and timely efforts of law enforcement partners, we were able to recover $140,000 here and provide it back to the victim,” Tierney said.
Of the funds returned, $115,000 was seized through asset forfeiture from a South Bend, Indiana, bank account. The remaining $25,000 was a cashier’s check the victim had recently sent to Queens through Fed Ex that investigators were able to intercept before it arrived, according to the news release.
In the initial phone call, the scammer told the victim the rented car was found with drugs and blood in it, prosecutors said. The scammer, posing as “Agent Johnson,” then manipulated the victim by placing calls to her each day pretending to check up on her.
When Suffolk police detectives first called the victim to investigate, she was dubious of them since the “FBI agent” had warned her a con artist might call pretending to be police, prosecutors said. The scammer also told her there was a “gag order” in place to prevent her from telling others about their interactions and even sent her correspondences using FBI letterhead, according to the news release.
The case was investigated by Det. Dena Miceli of the Suffolk County Police Department’s Financial Crimes Unit, working with the district attorney’s office’s Financial Crimes Bureau Chief Lucie Kwon and Deputy Bureau Chief Michael McCoy.
Grant Parpan covers Suffolk County courts and federal courts for Newsday. A Long Island native, he joined Newsday in 2022.
