VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. – A 24-year-old New York man faces charges after deputies said he attempted a “grandparents scam” on a DeLand woman, according to the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office.
Bronx resident Joel Mathilda was extradited to Volusia County on Friday after he pretended to be the woman’s grandson. Mathilda told the woman he needed her to bail him out of legal trouble, deputies said.
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“This suspect chose the wrong grandma to victimize in January when she received a phone call from someone pretending to be her grandson. She knew it was a scam because it was the very same scenario used to victimize her in an unrelated fraud case in March 2021,” a news release read in part.
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According to a news release, deputies said Mathilda used a new twist to try to scam the victim.
Deputies said some impostors have used Lyft or Uber drivers who unknowingly became couriers for criminals to ferry the money from the victim’s home to an unknown location and unknown third person.
Law enforcement officials said on Jan. 24, the DeLand victim received a call from an “attorney” representing her grandson following a car crash where another motorist was injured. If she sent $6,500, it would keep her grandson out of jail, the caller said.
According to the release, the victim went along with the caller and agreed to talk later in the day to finalize the transaction. Deputies said the woman called her son and they contacted the Volusia Sheriff’s Office.
Deputies said the transaction wasn’t completed that day but during an investigation, “detectives developed relevant information about the user who requested the Lyft driver.”
After a social media search, deputies said it led them to a person of interest known as JM, ultimately identified as Mathilda.
The search led them to a booking photo and police arrest report in Cayuga County, New York, where Mathilda was arrested in February for the same type of fraud, including using a courier, deputies said.
Once Mathilda was extradited back to Volusia County, he was arrested on an active warrant for fraud charges, deputies said. He faces charges of organized scheme to defraud, grand theft and unlawful use of two-way communication device.
Deputies said they have seen a rising number of fraud cases involving elderly residents being defrauded of thousands of dollars in recent years. Older victims receive phone calls from impostors pretending to be their grandchild who’s in trouble following a car crash or some other misfortune.
Mathilda had a first-appearance hearing Saturday and was released after posting $60,000 bail, deputies said.
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