Coconut Creek officer stops scam, warns elderly woman about fraud

Officer Michael Baker stopped an 85-year-old Coconut Creek woman from handing over more money to scammers who had dangled a fantasy of millions and a new car. The Coconut Creek Police Department used Baker’s body-camera footage to warn that once a caller demands secrecy, urgency or payment through cards, the safest move is to stop and call police.

In the video, the woman told Baker she had been promised $70 million and a car. Baker told her directly that the scheme was fake and urged her not to go get money or hand it to anyone. Police spokesperson Scotty Leamon said the woman had already been pushed into buying a money card with scratch-off numbers, one of the common warning signs officers see in fraud cases.

Scammers often steer victims to gift cards or reloadable money cards at stores such as Walgreens, then tell them the money will appear in a bank account later. Coconut Creek police said that is not how legitimate payments work, and once a scammer gets the card information, the money can disappear almost immediately. Leamon said Baker was calm, nonjudgmental and effective.

She had already sent two checks, one for $2,500 and another for $1,000, to scammers in Washington state before police stepped in. The scammers told her she had won $7 million and a brand new car. Coconut Creek police have warned about bank impostor and courier scams, Social Security impersonation schemes and phony loan offers aimed at seniors.

The Federal Trade Commission says gift cards remain a favored payment method for scammers because they are easy to use and hard to trace, and AARP says about 13 million U.S. adults have lost money in gift-card scams. The FBI defines elder fraud as fraud targeting people age 60 or older, and its Internet Crime Complaint Center recorded 147,127 complaints and $4.885 billion in losses in 2024. Complaints from victims over 60 topped 201,000 in 2025, with reported losses above $7.7 billion.