Gatehouse security at Vonore com

VONORE, Tenn. (WATE) — A courier was arrested by the Loudon County Sheriff’s Office for allegedly participating in a lucrative “Grandma, I’m in trouble” scam. Gatehouse guards at Rarity Bay in Monroe County captured a picture of a license plate from the courier’s car, helping deputies catch the suspect.

At the time, investigators say the courier was on her way to pick up cash after a victim was convinced she had to pay money to free her grandson from jail.

Loudon County deputies arrested Canadian citizen Valerie Hangi, 18, for theft and other charges. They say she was a courier and was about to make another pickup in Tellico Village when she was stopped on October 17. Gatehouse attendants at Rarity Bay in Monroe County identified Hangi’s car from security video as it went through the gate to pick up money at a victim’s home. An elderly Rarity Bay resident was told she needed to pay thousands of dollars to get her grandson out of jail.

“Their loved one had been in an accident, they’ve been arrested at that time the phone is handed off to either a bondsman, law enforcement or an attorney,” said Loudon County Sheriff Jimmy Davis.

In this case, Davis said a man impersonating an attorney told the victim she needed to pay cash to free her grandson.

“Someone will come to your house to pick up the money. They’ll have a courier to come to pick up the envelope full of cash,” said Davis.

He went on to explain that the victim originally gave the courier $20,000. Once the money was handed over, they wanted more.

“So a second call was made saying ‘Hey we’re going to need more money to get your loved one out of this situation.’ So they asked for additional money,” said Davis.

However, when the victim went to her bank, she was told no and the scam was uncovered.

Rarity Bay Gatehouse Supervisor Bob Richmond was notified by Loudon County investigators about the theft. The victim had provided detectives with a description of the car. Attendants then snagged the plate number from the security video as it was leaving.

“They said they were looking for a certain kind of car. We immediately started running our cameras here, backtracking. Found the car within 45 minutes on our cameras. Because we had cameras and could go backtrack, we helped the police pick her up within 24 hours,” said Richmond.

Investigators said the courier was stopped the next day, moments before she allegedly was about to pick up money from another potential victim in Tellico Village.

“Some of them think they’re probably not doing anything wrong. But once we get the people responsible for this, we start with the courier and then try to work our way up to get the one actually controlling the scam,” said Davis.

One guy controlling the scam fooled Bobby Wright, as we reported seven years ago. He believed a call from his granddaughter claiming she was in trouble was real. So Wright went to a Walgreens near his home and wired more than $1,500. Davis said scammers today prefer cash, instead of wiring money or sending prepaid cards.

“I think because so many people know of stories about Green Dot cards and doing it electronically, cash is a little bit harder to trace,” said Davis.

Davis said his investigators discovered thousands of dollars in Hangi’s car when she was arrested. To avoid the “Grandma, I’m in trouble” scam, never send money to someone you haven’t verified, like a police officer or an attorney, especially if they are asking for a lot of cash urgently. If unsure, call your loved one directly using a known phone number to confirm the situation. Always be wary of high-pressure tactics and urgent requests for money.