Warning of a Scam for Grandparents

Yesterday I had an interesting experience that I'm going to relate because others might come in contact with this scam. I went to visit an elderly neighbor (age 88) and her husband (age 85). When I got there, the husband had gone "to wire money to Canada". At first the wife wouldn't tell me why because "it was embarrassing". While we talked, she got a couple more calls from Canada asking why the money had not yet been wired. She was worried about her husband because he had been gone too long and didn't have a phone. She finally confided that their grandson was in trouble in Canada and needed $2,000. Suddenly the light went on. I had heard of this scam and I knew immediately what was going on. I said, "Did you get a call saying your grandson needed bail money? Did you talk to him? Did he beg for help?" She said yes, but that it seemed weird because their grandson was in college in Provo, UT. But her husband had talked to 'Stuart' who begged him to bail him out of jail on a DUI, and not tell his parents. This is a classic scam. The 'Stuart' her hubby had talked to was a fake Stuart. When the phone was handed to the fake 'Stuart', the grandfather said, "Is that you, Stuart?" So the bad guys knew at that point the name of the grandson, making the story more real. Because his hearing isn't good, he couldn't recognize that it wasn't his grandson. Anyway, he had gone to wire the money and hadn't come back. I was sick. The story is much longer, including me talking to the fake arresting constable in Canada a couple times, but in the end, by a miracle, it turned out okay. After the husband wired the money, he needed to call Canada to give the scammers a confirmation number so they could pick up the money. Since he didn't have a phone with him, he went to his daughter's house to use the phone. She immediately recognized it as a scam, called her son in Provo who was in class, and sent the grandfather to the police station. While he was talking to the police, the bad guys were busy calling the elderly wife demanding the confirmation number. That's when I got on the phone. Funny how they hung up immediately when they heard a younger voice asking for names and phone numbers. Because they never got the confirmation number, the husband was able to get a refund of all his money. This couple is very sweet, but the husband is trusting, even when the story made no sense. Please warn grandparents everywhere of this scam. I think the scammers cold call people listening for an elderly voice, and then the pitch is on. I did talk to the real police here, who said that unfortunately there wasn't any more they could do, because the call came from Canada, with caller ID blocked, where they have no jurisdiction. Also, the scam artists are so good, they use throw-away phones and pick up the money from remote locations, not where it is first wired. It's virtually impossible to catch them. So warn anyone you know with an elderly voice and a believing mind-set. Describe the scam in detail and tell them to never believe such a story. After this finally ended happily, I had to take the wife to Instacare with blood pressure of 170/90, shortness of breath and flu symptoms, which also ended okay with some medications.

After googling this 'grandparents scam', I found advice from the BBB:

Fast facts: Be on guard for the grandparents scam

• Confirm the status of the “grandchild” on the other end of the line requesting emergency money by calling them directly on their phone or verifying the story with other family members before deciding what course to take.

• Be on guard if the “grandchild” says that he’s suffering from a cold or has a broken jaw or other injury that makes him sound differently than he normally does.

• Scammers will let victims “fill in the blanks.” If the conversations starts out with “It’s me, you’re No. 1 grandchild,” don’t give a name for the fraud artist to take on.

• Requests to wire money through Western Union or MoneyGram should be suspect. Wired funds are hard to track once they’re in the hands of scammers.

• Victims of the “distressed loved one call” should immediately contact local police and the state Attorney General’s office. If the request was to wire money to Canada, the Canadian Anti-Fraud Call Center has a PhoneBusters hotline and Web site to make reports. The site is phonebusters.com. The phone number is 1-888-495-8501.