(WXYZ) - Augusta Banks was home alone Wednesday when she got a frantic call from someone posing as her 27-year-old grandson Sean.
"He said, 'Grandma, I was just in a car wreck.' I said, 'What? You just left here a few minutes ago.' "
"Sean" then asked Augusta for $250 to pay a mechanic for car repairs.
Banks said she didn't have that kind of money on hand, but she did have $50 or $60 in cash. The man on the phone, now claiming he was a mechanic, asked for her address and said he'd be right over. In the meantime, Banks called her daughter Janet, telling her what happened.
When Janet heard her son had been in an accident and was on the way to the hospital, but was more worried about his car, she knew something didn't sound right. She called her son and found out he was just fine.
The phone crook didn't know it yet, but he was messing with the wrong family. They know Wayne County Sheriff Benny Napoleon personally.
Napolean and a deputy came to Augusta's apartment complex, listened on the phone when the suspect called again, and arrested him when he showed up.
"It could have been far more serious," said Wayne County Sheriff Department spokeswoman Paula Bridges. "I mean, we're talking about a senior individual, trusting. She was at home alone. And this person, who knows what he would have done once he got into the house."
