Scammer gets elderly Kennewick victim to send $10,000 in the mail to Texas

A Kennewick officer thwarted a Texas scam artists’ $10,000 payday.

The crook, claiming to be from the Social Security Administration, called an elderly Kennewick resident Wednesday and said there was a problem with the person’s social security number.

The only way to fix it was to package up $10,000 and send it to an address in Texas, according to a Kennewick police Facebook post.

The caller managed to have an actual customer service number show up on the Kennewick victim’s caller ID.

The victim was convinced, packed up the cash and sent it out by overnight mail.

But after more consideration, the victim realized it was a scam and called Kennewick police.

When Officer Kristofer Safranek heard the tale, he set out to get the victim’s money back.

After several phone calls, Safranek got the package diverted from its destination. Police are now working with the shipper and local authorities to get the money returned.

And detectives are continuing to investigate in hopes of tracking down the culprits.

Kennewick police said these scams happen daily. They urged people to speak with elderly family members about it.

“As a reminder, the Social Security Administration will not ask you to send cash anywhere,” Kennewick police said.