Police are warning residents to be aware of a new scam going around the hub city.
They say they have received multiple calls of a man approaching residential homes and claiming that his grandmother is locked out of her home. He then asks the homeowners if they could spare about $50, because the locksmith will only accept cash.
“I went to the door, because my wife always makes me answer the door.” Jeff Crane, one of the scam’s targets said. “He started telling me about his grandmother. That he had this grandmother who was a neighbor from just a couple houses down.”
In Crane’s case, the man showed up at his front door near dinnertime and asked for $42 to pay the locksmith.
Brian DeCanio, was also a target. The man showed up at his house just after midnight and he said that despite the late hour, the story initially made them want to offer help.
“He came and shook my hand immediately and started telling me a story about how he was locked out of his house down the street,” DeCanio said. “Then added that ‘The locksmith won’t let us in and my Grandma’s debit card is in there.'”
Both DeCanio and Crane said that they were initially wary, but wanted to give the man the benefit of the doubt. But when they started asking him more questions, both say the story started to fall apart.
“The more his story unraveled and he didn’t want any of the other help I was offering him,” DeCanio said, “I figured it wasn’t a true story.”
Neither man was willing to give the scammer any money and in both cases he drove off.
“It’s always better to be safe than sorry,” Said Lubbock Police Lieutenant Ray Mendoza. “I would never hand out cash, because there are so many things that can happen with that.”
Lieutenant Mendoza said that helping people isn’t wrong, but advised residents to try and help in other ways.
“Offer to call assistance for them, or to let them use your phone, but don’t offer them cash,” He said.
Mendoza said not to hesitate calling 911 if you ever feel uncomfortable in a situation like this.
