A man who police say stole almost $20,000 from an elderly couple, is accused of tricking a rideshare driver into picking up the money from the victims as part of the "grandparent scam," according to investigators.
James Elmore, who drives for Lyft, got an alert earlier this month to pick up a package at a home in southwest Miami-Dade. He said an elderly couple at the house asked him to come inside and talk with a man on the phone.
“Giving me specific instructions on where to take the package, how to deliver it, and he would have someone meet me outside of Ross when I got there,” Elmore told NBC Miami on Tuesday.
While Elmore thought the call and request were strange, he said he didn't think much of it. He drove to the Ross store parking lot in Hialeah, and met the man he was supposed to deliver the package to.
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“I asked him what was the name on the package because I wouldn't release it, he gave me the name on the package — he didn't talk much — [I] gave him the package and he went back,” Elmore said.
Miami-Dade Police said both the elderly couple and Elmore were scammed, and the man responsible has been identified as Agustin Garcia-Marsan.
Investigators said the elderly couple got a call from someone posing as their grandson saying he was getting arrested and they needed to call an attorney. According to an arrest report, the grandfather called the number he was given, and the person posing as an attorney explained “that he needs to come up with $18,500 for the bail bondsman” that day.
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The couple followed through with the instructions, putting the money in a small box and handing it to an unsuspecting rideshare driver who was sent to pick it up, the arrest report said. That driver was Elmore.
“These people were so humble, so nice, they didn't even speak much, and at the same time, they didn't know they were being scammed,” Elmore said.
Investigators tracked the rideshare payment back to Garcia-Marsan. They also linked Garcia-Marsan to multiple fraud incidents throughout Florida and North Carolina, and said he used the same method involving rideshares and meeting drivers at shopping plazas.
According to the arrest report, after paying the money, the couple called their grandson, who told them he was never in an accident or in jail. That’s when they realized they had been scammed.
Elmore is just relieved police stopped the alleged scammer before he struck again.
“That's the ultimate goal, to put up a win for crime, the only thing that could be better than that is if they get their money back,” Elmore said. “It's a win because it gives them some peace of mind where they can't do it again.”
Garcia-Marsan was found by police on Monday and arrested.
