Elderly Woman Robbed By "Workers" Issues Warning For All
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FORT LAUDERDALE (CBSMiami) – A 94-year-old woman is warning people to never let their guard down after she was robbed Thursday by two men dressed as construction workers.
The victim is too shaken up to speak on camera, but she told CBS4's Gaby Fleischman that she feels violated and has lost trust in everyone.
Thursday night, police say, two men, dressed in work vests and hard hats, knocked on the woman's front door in the Isles neighborhood and told her there was an issue with the sea wall behind her home.
The victim said that due to ongoing construction in the area, and due to the fact that workers have knocked before, it didn't cross her mind that she was being scammed.
The victim said she met one of the men around the back. He told her he would also need to spray the backyard with acid to get rid of the red ant infestation—instead, the man ended up spraying her hands with the 'chemical.' The victim panicked, and went inside the house to wash her hands—that's when the man followed her in and stole all the jewelry she was wearing.
The woman said that while she was being robbed by one man, the other man had slipped in through the front door of the home and searched through drawers for things to steal.
Neighbor Maya Briglio said the elderly victim has lived on the street for years and is very private.
"They really targeted her," she said. "They must have been very convincing because I don't think she would have opened the door."
Residents say they're not surprised the thieves pretended to be workers because there has been construction underway on the bridge to the community for more than a year—and workers are in the area all the time.
"I guess you kind of get used to the workers being here and you let your guard down," Briglio said.
But the victim has a message for everyone following Thursday's incident; never let your guard down.
The woman was not injured in the incident. Also, the 'red ant acid' that one of the men sprayed on the victim's hands, turned out to be water.
The men drove off in an older model white work truck.
Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers at (954) 493-TIPS.
