Wednesday, May 4, 2022

Man scams elderly woman out of thousands of dollars for tree services, records show


MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A man is behind bars after scamming an elderly woman out of thousands of dollars.

On Nov. 5, an 81-year-old woman agreed to pay Cleveland Bobo, 35, to cut down two small trees at her home in the 2200 block of Tidmington Drive for $7,100.

The victim said Bobo told her she could only pay by credit card but that he did not have the ability to accept credit cards, an affidavit said. 

On the same day, Bobo had his friend and business associate charge the victim’s MasterCard to the friend’s Square business account in the amount of over $7,000, reports said.

According to the affidavit, after the work was been done, on Nov. 9, Bobo and the friend returned to the victim’s home and told her that the transaction did not go through. 

Bobo and the friend then scammed $6,500 from the victim, officials said.

The friend had his sister walk the victim through opening a charge account with PayPal. The victim withdrew $1000 from her bank and then sent $5,500 to the sister’s cash app, an affidavit said.

The sister gave a statement on body-worn camera and stated that she remembered the transaction. She helped her brother set up the Square account and business name, court records show.

She said that on Nov. 9, she received the money from the victim on her cash app and divided the money between Bobo and her brother, the affidavit said.

Bobo is charged with theft of property and financial exploitation of an elderly or vulnerable person.

The suspect’s bond was set for $40,000 and there is no court date information.

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