Sheriff's Sgt. Fred Plageman said the Thursday afternoon incident was attempted elder abuse and credited a vigilant bank manager for scaring off the would-be thieves.
The couple, from Scotts Valley, had just finished a shopping trip to Costco in Santa Cruz and were driving out of the parking lot around 2 p.m. Thursday when a man flagged them down, according to the Sheriff's Office. He identified himself as a AAA employee, said there were mechanical problems with the couple's 1997 Toyota Camry, then shook the right rear tire and told the couple it wobbled, Plageman said.
The man then told the couple he could fix it for them but that they had to go elsewhere because he couldn't perform car repairs in the Costco parking lot. He said it would cost $3,800 up front and said that the couple could get a rebate later, according to the Sheriff's Office.
The "mechanic" then introduced a second man as his son, who drove the 84-year-old Scotts Valley man to Liberty Bank in Felton while the mechanic stayed behind in the parking lot with the man's wife, the Sheriff's Office reported.
At the bank, the manager got involved when the elderly man tried to make a large withdrawal.
"It looks like the victim and the bank manager came to the conclusion that he was being scammed," Plageman said.
When she walked toward the front of the bank and tried to write down the suspect's license plate number, he sped away so fast he nearly hit another vehicle, Plageman said.
About the same time, the mechanic told the elderly man's wife he wanted to get a drink, walked away and didn't come back. Both the mechanic and his son had been talking on their cell phones since they parted ways in the Costco parking lot, the Sheriff's Office reported.
No theft occurred and an inspection of the couple's car revealed there were no mechanical problems, Plageman said.
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