Southold Blotter: $8K scam narrowly averted

A 49-year-old Mattituck woman told police on Jan. 2 that an unknown person called her home “and told her that a white van was coming to the house with nuclear waste and was going to blow up her and her home-schooled child,” according to police. The woman told police she has received similar prank calls in the past. Officers attempted to contact the number that called the house but were unable to.

• An 84-year-old Mattituck man told police last Wednesday that an unknown person impersonating his grandson called him and said he’d been arrested for driving while intoxicated and needed $8,000 to be sent to the “Public Defender’s Office” so that he could be released. The man was given a number to call and a name to talk to, which he did. He was told to put the money in an envelope and that a Lyft driver would be arriving at his residence to pick it up. The driver arrived at the house and the man gave the driver the money but not before taking down his vehicle’s license plate number and a copy of his driver’s license. Later, the man received a call from his actual grandson, who said he had been scammed. The driver then returned to the house with the $8,000. The driver said he was suspicious “when the person who hired him changed the drop-off location” from Brooklyn to a junk yard in the Bronx. The Lyft driver was cooperative with police.

Those who are named in police reports have not been convicted of any crime or violation. The charges against them may later be reduced or withdrawn, or they may be found innocent.