A 41-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of scamming an elderly man in another state — who allegedly was persuaded to mail $9,000 in cash to a vacant rental home in Irvine.
The property’s owner called police on Friday, Aug. 14, after seeing someone suspicious outside the home that is near Laconia and Amore in the Westpark neighborhood, said Kyle Oldoerp, a spokesperson with Irvine police.
Through security cameras, the owner noticed the man walk up to the door, cover a realtor lock box with a piece of paper and wait at the doorstep to grab a package delivered by a UPS driver, Oldoerp said.
“Clearly, there’s some sort of system going on where they’re using these empty homes to make these drops,” he said.
Before the man left, officers arrived and spoke to him.
Investigators learned that the elderly man had sent the package after he got a call from someone claiming to work for his bank. The caller told the man he needed to return a $9,000 deposit that was “accidentally” put into his account, police said.
He mailed the amount in cash to the vacant home.
Police arrested the Rosemead man accused of taking the package, who they said was carrying at least $30,000 in cash in addition to the $9,000 in the package.
Investigators are looking into what part the man may have played in the scheme and trying to find anyone else who may have been involved as well as other victims, Oldoerp said.