A Kew Gardens Hills woman is criminally charged for scamming senior citizens out of their life savings in a nationwide elder fraud scheme, Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced Friday.
Lisa Rossopoulos, 59, of Park Drive East, was arraigned Thursday in Queens Criminal Court on two counts of grand larceny in the second degree and two counts of criminal possession of stolen property in the second degree.
According to the charges and the investigation, on Feb. 23, 2023, a 92-year-old resident of a healthcare facility in Hawaii received a phone call from someone purporting to be a government official from the Federal Trade Commission. The caller said the woman’s identity had been stolen, her bank accounts were not secured, and to avoid losing all her funds, she must wire money to a Chase bank branch on Main Street in Kew Gardens Hills. The caller threatened that the victim’s children would be arrested if she told anyone about the situation.
Between Feb. 28, 2023, and July 17, 2023, the woman sent a total of $446,000 through 18 wire transfers to the Chase account in the defendant’s name. The money was quickly withdrawn from the account after each wire transfer. Rossopoulos is the only authorized signatory on the account.
In May 2023, an 83-year-old Kentucky man received a phone call from someone who called himself “Mike from Amazon” and asked if the victim had recently purchased Apple earbuds. The man said no, and then the caller told him his identity had been stolen and he needed to secure the money in his bank account immediately. The victim received a second phone call from someone claiming to be from the Federal Trade Commission, who gave instructions to wire money to a TD Bank branch in Hyde Park, NY, into an account held in Rossopoulos’ name.
Between June 13, 2023, and July 11, 2023, the victims sent a total of $101,980 to the account through four wire transfers. The money was immediately removed from the account, which Rossopoulos was the only signatory on.
“According to the charges, this defendant bilked senior citizens out of their hard-earned savings,” Katz said. “No one should feel embarrassed if they find themselves at the receiving end of scams or frauds.”
Queens Criminal Court Judge Jennifer Tubridy ordered Rossopoulos to return to court on May 8. If convicted, she faces up to 15 years in prison.
“If you suspect that you have fallen victim to a scam, please contact our Frauds Bureau at [email protected] or by calling 718-286-6673,” Katz said.
The investigation was conducted by the DA’s office in close collaboration with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the New York El Dorado Task Force Economic Crimes Group, and the New York State Department of Financial Services.
