EXCLUSIVE: Thief Caught On Camera Stealing $10K From Glendale Grandma In Scam

GLENDALE (CBSLA) — A scammer who preyed on a grandmother's love for her grandson made off with $10,000, but the thief didn't know that he was captured on camera.

Video from the Ring security camera might not look alarming as a man in a yellow hoodie and dark shorts walks calmly up to a woman's front door in Glendale Wednesday morning, but what happened was actually a chilling robbery.

The man in the video is a scammer who walked away from the home with $10,000 in cash after Barbara McCullough handed it over to him, because she thought her grandson was in danger.

"I received a call about 8:30 this morning from my grandson," McCullough said. "It sounded like him. How many times have you heard that story? It's sounds just like your grandson."

McCullough's grandson is a student at the University of California Berkeley.

"I said, 'How are you,' and everything," McCullough said. "I said, 'You know, it really doesn't sound like you,' and he said he had a horrible cold. Then he started crying."

The man claiming to be her grandson passed the phone to another man claiming to be a lawyer who said her grandson had hit a prominent politician with his car, was arrested and needed $10,000 in bail money.

"I went down to the bank and withdrew $10,000 out," McCullough said.

A short time later, the man in the yellow hoodie showed up at her door to collect the cash, but it turned out that her grandson had never called her and was not arrested.

"I heard him crying, and I felt flattered that he even called me," McCullough said. "He called me. He didn't want to upset his parents, that's what I thought."

McCullough said she hopes somebody will recognize the man and call the Glendale Police Department.