If there's one thing you should know about Jean, from Long Island, it's this: Don't mess with her. (Seriously, don't even think about it.) As a former 911 dispatcher, the 73-year-old grandmother has heard it all — which is something that recently came in handy when a would-be scammer tried to pull one over on her. Instead, Jean beat him at his own game by luring the alleged criminal into her home before having him arrested.
According to reports, it all happened earlier this month when Jean received a strange phone call.
The man on the other end of the line claimed to be her grandson, and explained that he was in a bit of trouble. According to the caller, he'd been arrested for drunk driving and needed her help getting bonded out of jail. But right away, Jean could see right through his lies.
For one thing, Jean doesn't have a grandson old enough to drive.
For another, the voice on the other end of the line clearly didn't sound familiar.
But most of all, something in Jean's gut told her who this guy really was: A con artist, who wanted nothing more than to take her money and run.
"I knew he was a real scammer," Jean later told CBS2 in an interview. "I just knew he wasn't going to scam me."
Jean wasn't about to let this guy off the hook.
So, instead of chewing him out on the phone or hanging up all together, she decided to see if she could catch him in his own web of lies.
Nassau County Police say that Jean carried on talking to the man, pretending to play along until she wound up speaking with a second man who claimed to be her grandson's lawyer.
According to the "lawyer," they needed $8,000 for bail — and they needed it fast.
After a while, a third man hopped on the call, pretending to be a bail bondsman who was local to her area, and could pick up the money to bring it to her "grandson."
Knowing she had to think fast, Jean started to improvise.
"I told him I had the money in the house [and to come collect it]," she later shared.
She didn't expect it to actually work, but to her surprise, it did.
"I figured, he's not going to fall for that," she told CBS2. (But as it turns out, the joke was on him.)
"Well, he fell for that hook, line, and sinker," she said.
Source: cafemom.com
