Fake health care worker scams 84-year-old woman out of thousands, Oklahoma cops say

A woman posing as a home health care worker is accused of scamming an 84-year-old woman out of thousands, officials say.

That same woman turned herself in after seeing she was captured in surveillance photos that the Oklahoma City Police Department shared on Facebook.

Police say the woman pretended to be a health care employee, allowing her to enter the 84-year-old’s home.

After gaining the woman’s trust, the impersonator drove her to multiple Bank of Oklahoma locations, KFOR reported, and had the victim sign three checks.

The older woman was ultimately scammed out of $7,600, police said on Facebook.

“This is one of those cases that really makes a person angry when they hear about it,” said Sgt. Gary Knight of the Oklahoma City Police Department, according to KFOR. “It’s an elderly woman being taken advantage of by a younger person who’s trying to scam them out of their money.”

The department says the case was “quickly solved,” as the woman contacted police herself the same day the surveillance photos were posted. Charges had not been filed as of Wednesday.

Older adults are often targeted in financial crimes like this one, the FBI reports, because they are usually more trusting and have a financial savings.

“Each year, millions of elderly Americans fall victim to some type of financial fraud or confidence scheme, including romance, lottery, and sweepstakes scams, to name a few,” the FBI says.

Last year, 105,301 victims over the age of 60 lost more than $966,062,236 to fraud, according to the FBI’s Elder Fraud Report.

This story was originally published October 7, 2021 at 5:15 PM with the headline "Fake health care worker scams 84-year-old woman out of thousands, Oklahoma cops say."