Authorities warn after New York man accused of scamming elderly Massachusetts man of thousands

HOPKINTON —Chief Joseph Bennett reports that Hopkinton Police Department detectives identified, arrested and charged a New York man who allegedly stole $10,000 from an elderly Hopkinton resident through a well-documented nationwide computer technical support scam.

On Wednesday, Dec. 20 at 10:43 a.m., Hopkinton Police received a report from a resident who believed they had fallen victim to a scam. The resident reported they had been contacted on Dec. 19 from a person claiming to be a representative of a company that provides computer anti-virus software. The caller allegedly told the resident that he needed to provide a courier with $10,000. The resident also reported that the scammer was able to manipulate his computer, which contained banking information.

The resident paid the courier and then was contacted again the next day with a second payment request.

Hopkinton Police Uniform Division and Detectives worked with the resident and set up a sting, and were able to make contact with the courier, later identified as 21-year-old Minhaj Ismam of Jamaica, NY.

Officers spoke with Ismam and the driver of the vehicle who dropped Ismam off at the home. The driver was determined to be an Uber driver who was hired to take Ismam from New York to Massachusetts.

Ismam was arrested and taken to Hopkinton Police station for booking. He was arraigned in Framingham District Court on Thursday morning and is being held on $1,000 cash bail and was ordered to have no contact with the victim.

Ismam was arraigned Thursday afternoon at Framingham District Court on the charges of Larceny from Person 65 or older, Larceny Over $1,200 by Single Scheme, Attempted Larceny from +60/Disabled, and Conspiracy.

“This is a great example of our patrol officers and Detective Bureau working together to arrest a criminal targeting the elderly.” Det. Sgt. Scott van Raalten said. “The senior population can be extremely vulnerable to scams, so we ask any resident who feels they may be targeted to call the Department at 508-497-3401.”

In light of this incident, Hopkinton Police would like to share the following online safety and scam tips from Mass.gov and the FBI:

Phishing (Email and Phone):

-Do not provide personal or financial information through email. Legitimate companies will not ask for sensitive information via email.
-Do not give up personal information over the phone
-Enable two-factor authentication whenever possible. This adds an extra layer of security to your online accounts.
-Don’t trust unsolicited emails.
-Treat email attachments with caution and never click on links in emails unless you’ve verified the sender
-Be careful with what information you share online or on social media. Openly sharing things like pet names, schools you attended, and other personal information can enable scammers to access information they need to guess your passwords or answer your security questions.
-Do not give in to the pressure to make a decision immediately.
-Do not give out your credit card information to someone calling over the phone.
-If you do pick up and learn it is a scam call, do not engage. Just hang-up.
-As a reminder, companies generally do not contact you to ask for your username or password.
-Look up the company’s phone number on your own (don’t use the one a potential scammer is providing) and call the company to ask if the request is legitimate.