Crime & Safety

Police Honor S&S Employees for Thwarting Scams Against Elderly

Police Present Awards to Nadia Guarino and Kim Renzulli, Who Prevented Two Senior Citizens From Being Duped Out of $2,800 and $2,700, Respectively

Nadia Guarino, a customer service representative at Super Stop & Shop on Kings Highway Cutoff in Fairfield, said she knew something wasn't right when a Fairfield senior citizen walked in to the supermarket last month to wire $2,800 to Mexico City.

Guarino, a Milford resident, questioned the senior citizen about who she was wiring the money to and became more suspicious when she learned the money was being wired to bail the woman's "grandson" out of jail in Canada.

"I said, 'You can't do it.' I said, 'Is your grandson good?' " Guarino recalled on Tuesday afternoon outside the Fairfield Police Department, where she and Kim Renzulli were honored for protecting senior citizens. "Always when somebody sends Western Union, I ask questions - 'Do you know the person?' because Stop & Shop teaches us this."

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Fortunately, Guarino prevented the "Grandma Scam," which involves a man who calls a senior citizen, pretends to be the senior's grandson and says he's been arrested, usually in Canada for drunken driving, and needs money to get out of jail. The "grandson" tells the senior citizen not to tell anyone about the phone call, especially his parents, and sometimes another man, claiming to be an attorney or police trooper, gets on the phone to verify the story.

Rose Mauro, the near victim of the scam on March 21, said the scammer told her, "Don't tell my parents. I'm so ashamed."

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Mauro was convinced the scammer was her grandson and she went with a neighbor, Paddie Sullivan, to Super Stop & Shop on Kings Highway Cutoff to wire money to get him out of jail.

"If we went anywhere else, it would have been gone," Sullivan said of the $2,800.

Fairfield Police on Tuesday afternoon honored Guarino, Renzulli and Danielle Capozziello, who also are customer service representatives at the Kings Highway Cutoff supermarket, for preventing senior citizens from being duped out of money.

Guarino prevented Mauro from losing $2,800, while Renzulli and Capozziello prevented another senior citizen from losing $2,700.

The senior citizen in Renzulli's and Capozziello's case came into the supermarket on March 25 and said she wanted to wire money because her grandson had been arrested, according to Police Chief Gary MacNamara.

"I said, 'Did you talk to your grandson?' " Renzulli recalled. "She said, 'Yeah, I talked to my grandson.' " But the 89-year-old woman actually hadn't talked to her grandson because he was asleep at the time, Renzulli said.

Renzulli said she sensed something was wrong as soon as the senior citizen walked into the supermarket and asked to wire money. "You can tell because they're targeting the elderly," Renzulli said of scammers. It's not right...I will ask questions if I'm fishy about certain things."

Renzulli, who was working with Capozziello that day, said neither one wanted to wire the $2,700. "She took the paper and handed it to me," Renzulli said of Capozziello. "I said, 'I'm not going to do it.' And she said, 'I'm not going to do it.' "

The money never got wired, and Renzulli and Capozziello saved the senior citizen from losing $2,700.

MacNamara said police try to educate senior citizens about scams through a Triad Program and senior citizen forums - one such forum is scheduled from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Wednesday at the Fairfield Senior Center - but scams are almost impossible to stop once a senior citizen is convinced a scammer's story is true.

MacNamara said police usually learn of scams in two ways - if a senior citizen suspects something is strange and after the money is sent. "Rarely, if ever, once the victim takes the bait are we able to prevent the transaction," MacNamara said. "These three employees, on their own, prevented these women from being victimized."

MacNamara said Fairfield Police know their mission to make Fairfield safer requires an engaged community and that the department didn't want "the significance and thoughtfulness" of Guarino's, Renzulli's and Capozziello's actions to go unrecognized.

MacNamara presented Guarino and Renzulli with awards that read: "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world...In appreciation of your diligence and commitment to protect senior citizens." Capozziello wasn't able to attend the ceremony, but her award was in a box and would be delivered to her by Chris Kemp, Stop & Shop's customer service manager.

"We're going to put a trophy case up in the store," Kemp said. "Stop & Shop's pledge is to make a difference in our customers' lives every day, and that's what they did."

Mauro said she was grateful for Guarino's curiousity, saying she "would have gone crazy" if she had wired $2,800 to a scammer. "Not for the money, money is nothing," Mauro said. "But for being so stupid."

Guarino said, "You're not stupid. You follow your heart."


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