Hey, there! Log in / Register
Police: Arlington woman faked terminal brain tumor as part of effort to scam elderly man
By adamg on Wed, 12/02/2015 - 10:07pm
Arlington Police charge a waitress at an Arlington restaurant befriended an elderly customer - and then took him for $100,000 before she was arrested.
Police say Anissa Llega, 24, convinced the 84-year-man to hire her as a house cleaner, then began spinning a series of sob stories convincing enough to have him give her large sums of money - including $30,000 that she claimed she would use for surgery for her brain tumor.
After an Arlington Police investigation, it was determined that during the time Llega claimed to be having surgery, she was actually in Miami on vacation. Police believe that she exploited more than $100,000 from the victim. Police found and froze several bank accounts in the suspect's name.
In addition to the money for her alleged brain surgery, Llega also convinced the man to pay her for alleged auto payments and school loans, police say.
Police say they began investigating their relationship after getting a tip from one of the man's acquaintances, who was suspicious of her activities.
Innocent, etc.
Neighborhoods:
Topics:
Ad:
Support Universal Hub
Help keep Universal Hub going. If you like what we're up to and want to help out, please consider a (completely non-deductible) contribution.
Comments
did she work at not your
did she work at not your average hoes
My guess would be Jimmy's
Based on the man's age matching those of typical patrons there.
Tryst has a more middle aged and under crowd.
She worked at...
Classic Cafe in Arlington, MA
Haaah Haaaaaah!! Now she's
Haaah Haaaaaah!! Now she's REALLY gonna need some extra cash!!!
Time to start hitting on rich laywers
She'll try her luck flirting in the courtroom next.
I'm *really* curious as to which restaurant she worked at..which makes me feel dirty.
You win
Best non-registered handle yet.
That sounds almost familiar!
A brunette, minor-league version of Anna Nicole Smith.
Makes me want to believe in hell
I would like to believe there's a special place in hell for people like this.
She can join the "IRS" telephone scammers in that hell
I was at my mom's, and she got two phone calls within a couple of hours saying that the IRS was going to sue her. She's very old, and there's no reason the IRS would even be interested in her. According to their website, the IRS never calls people up to talk about their taxes, ever. If they want you to know something, they'll send you a letter.
I told my mom to just hang up if she got any more calls like that. If you try and talk to them, they have a whole routine involving other people that's designed to scare the hell out of you, and it works often enough that they all make money.
I got one of those IRS calls
I got one of those IRS calls on my cell while I was at work. I also get calls from Microsoft telling me my pc is infected.
When I asked the IRS guy how he got my cell number, he was speechless - same with Microsoft guy.
The worst is the very legitimate looking mailings I get after purchasing a house this past summer. So many mailings looking very official telling me I need to "Act Now" to protect my mortgage. I can honestly see how some people get scammed.
You're mom was lucky you were there, imagine the others who have no advocate.
Also got the "Your grandson is in jail" scam
Guy called her and said he was my son, and in jail in Mexico. "Don't tell Dad; he'll get mad." Then "his lawyer" got on the phone and told her to wire $5K to some address. What saved her is that she's too old to know how to wire money. She disobeyed "my son" and called me. I said "Mom, he's not in Mexico; he's in Virginia. I will call him and prove it." And I did.
She would have given them the money, and they would have needed more.
But was there a service fee?
Did she scam an extra 3% for the back of house folks?
Demanded what she considered a "living wage"
for her cleaning and housekeeping services.
See something, Say Something
My banks have a sign advising people to call a number if they suspect someone elderly is being taken advantage of. It's a good thing to remind people -- this guy's friend deserves a lot of credit.
The risk of abuse (physically or financially) to the elderly is a much bigger, realistic problem then people leaving bags unattended.
Amen, and another suggestion for how to help
Elderly folks are targeted so often by scammers who rely on them not to see through the scam. If you have elderly relatives or neighbors, you might reach out to them to make them aware of this kind of thing, and also (maybe more importantly) to let them know that if they are ever approached by someone wanting money or threatening them with lawsuits, charges, whatever, that they can come to you for help. I don't think it's reasonable to expect that they'll know the details of every scam, or even to know what characterizes a scam, but if all these elderly people had someone they could go to, to help them to figure out if it IS a scam, so much of this fraud would be stopped before it got started.
Also...
I just want to add that that rage reaction when you hear about elderly folks being abused or defrauded? Yeah, me that, too.
Program to inform seniors
Waltham has this program
http://www.city.waltham.ma.us/council-on-aging/pages/triad
this officer visits the senior center weekly
http://www.city.waltham.ma.us/sites/walthamma/files/file/file/december_2...
I imagine other towns may have something similar.
So what did she do that was
So what did she do that was illegal? She asked an elderly person for money, and it was given to her with no consideration/contract. Sure, it's unethical, but how is it illegal?
Asked for money, by lying....
.. that she had a severe medical problem that required expensive treatment she couldn't afford (among other things).
Generally, this is considered to be fraud.
Under common law, three elements are required to prove fraud: a material false statement made with an intent to deceive, a victim’s reliance on the statement and damages.