Sedona elder fraud thwarted by retired cop turned Uber driver

Sedona elder fraud stopped by Uber driver

An Uber driver who pulled into the wrong driveway by mistake thwarted a sophisticated financial scam targeting a Sedona woman in her 90s. FOX 10’s Marc Martinez has this story.

SEDONA, Ariz. – A sophisticated scam targeting a Sedona woman in her 90s was thwarted just in the nick of time—the criminals did not count on the unlikely hero who saved the day, an Uber driver.

Yavapai County authorities say a vulnerable senior citizen in Sedona was moments away from losing everything to a cruel financial scam.

But she was saved by an incredible stroke of luck, an Uber driver who pulled into her driveway by mistake, looking for a completely different passenger.

What we know:

It began with a high-pressure phone call. A woman in her 90s was told by someone claiming to be with Wells Fargo that her personal banking information had been compromised.

“He just told me they opened an investigation because some of the personal information from the accounts had been hacked,” the victim said. “When I walked out to the mailbox, I hadn’t made it quite to the mailbox when Michael showed up.”

But Michael was not there for her. He was an Uber driver who just happened to accept a ride request in the area for a passenger named “Sam.”

When he arrived, he found the elderly woman walking toward his car with her walker, holding a bag and her phone looking isolated and confused.

“I asked her, ‘Are you Sam?’ and she said, ‘No. Are you a courier?’ And I said, ‘No, I’m an Uber driver, I’m supposed to pick up a ride here,'” Michael said.

Michael, a former law enforcement officer who now drives for Uber, saved an elderly woman in Sedona, Arizona from being scammed.

“That’s a scam. Don’t do it”

“I said, ‘You’re not being directed to give gift cards to somebody?’ And she was like, ‘I can’t speak to you about this, I have some kind of confidentiality that I have to follow,'” Michael said. “So I was like, ‘That’s a scam. Don’t do it.'”

Fortunately for the victim, Michael was not just an Uber driver—he is also a retired police officer. He recognized the warning signs immediately, grabbed the phone, and found the scammer had already hung up.

“I think the good Lord sent him there to stop me from doing whatever I was doing,” the victim said. “I’ll be forever grateful that he was there. Angels are everywhere.”

“I was happy to help her. Yeah, elderly people and children. I can’t stand them being victims,” Michael said.

What you can do:

Authorities are now using this close call to remind the public that legitimate banks will never send a courier to collect your cards or demand total secrecy.