Phone scammer arrested as he tries to pick up cash, police say

After a 91-year-old Farmingdale grandmother called police about being asked for $9,000 on the phone, officers arrested a Manhattan man in connection with the scam, police said.

Guillermo Fernandez, 31, was charged with third-degree grand larceny, Nassau County police said in a news release.

The grandmother received a phone call from a woman claiming to be her granddaughter on Friday, police said. The woman said she had been arrested in Haiti and then passed the phone to a man, who pretended to be a police sergeant and said the bail was $9,000.

The grandmother was told to put the money in a mailbox in front of her home, police said. She got the cash from the bank but became suspicious and called her granddaughter, who was at work.

The grandmother called police, who told her to put the money in the mailbox so they could catch the scammers. Soon after, Fernandez drove to the home in a gray 2013 Honda Accord and retrieved the money from the mailbox, police said. He was immediately arrested.

Fernandez was arraigned Saturday at First District Court in Hempstead. Bail was set at $50,000 bond or $25,000 cash and a temporary order of protection was issued, according to online court records. No defense attorney information was available.

Anyone with information or who believes they may have been a victim of the scam is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 800-244-8477 or call 911. All callers will remain anonymous.