A common illegal telephone/text/email scam that usually happens over the internet or the phone took on a scary twist near Kuna last week when the scammers sent somebody to a victim’s house to collect money.
Isaac A. Falak is charged with a felony count of grand theft. The 59-year-old Falak is from Buenos Aries.
Detectives are working to figure out where else Falak has been in the U.S. this summer and if he is a suspect in any similar fraud cases.
The scam in question is when people get a call or email from someone who is impersonating one of their grandchildren, who asks for money to get bailed out of jail.
The “grandchild” is usually supposed to be in another state or foreign country, and the grandparents are usually instructed to send the “bail” money electronically as soon as possible, using prepaid credit or gift cards.
Once those transactions take place, the money is gone — and by the time law enforcement is involved, there isn’t much we can do.
In this case, a woman who lives in south Ada County got a phone call the morning of Aug. 16 from someone who said he was her grandson, who told her he had been involved in a car accident and needed money to get out of jail.
The “grandson” then told the woman he was handing the phone to his “lawyer.” A different man then got on the phone and told the woman to withdraw $18,000 in cash, put it in a manilla envelope, and go back home, where someone would come to pick the money up and put it in a suitcase.
The “lawyer” said he was under a gag order and couldn’t tell her anything else about the case and told her not to talk to anyone else about it.
The woman got several phone calls that day from the “lawyer” and eventually withdrew the money. When she was about to go home she realized what was happening and checked on her grandson, who was not in jail and was fine.
She told a family member about what was going on and then called Ada County dispatch.
The family member went to the house and found a man, later identified as Falak, walking up the driveway and pulling a suitcase.
When that man asked Falak who he was and what he was doing, he said he was looking for the woman but wasn’t able to say much else. The man told Falak to leave. Falak went into a nearby car, which turned out to be a cab, and left the area.
Deputies arrived around the same time that was happening and talked to the woman, who explained what happened. Another deputy found the cab nearby and located Falak at a nearby grocery store.
Deputies continued to collect evidence while detectives interviewed Falak. They eventually arrested Falak and booked him into the Ada County Jail on the grand theft charge.
Falak was released from jail Monday after he posted a $20,000 bond. He is set to make his next court appearance Sept. 1.