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[Mz iMac]

Callers pretending to be grandkids are still targeting older Americans

by Richard B. Stolley, AARP Bulletin, January/February 2017|

The grandparent scam involves callers pretending to be your grandchildren in trouble

Be wary of phone scammers pretending to be one of your grandkids.

The phone rang—not the cellphone that I normally use, but my office landline—and the scam began with an innocent, "Hi, Grandpa."

"Who's this?" I asked.

"Don't you recognize my voice? It's Kenny. I'm in Chicago." (All names have been changed to protect the victims.)

It was a young male, but I wasn't so sure it was my Los Angeles-based grandson. I also wasn't aware that he was visiting Chicago, though his sister, Emily, was working there at the time.

He asked: "Can I tell you something in secret that you won't tell anybody else, please?" This turns out to be a familiar request by scammers.

Intrigued, I responded, "Of course."

I was the potential victim of a financial trick that is aimed at countless grandparents across the country, costing them millions of dollars, according to Federal Trade Commission estimates. In 2015 alone, the FTC received 10,565 "family/friend impostor" fraud complaints; it's impossible to say how many more recipients of these calls didn't notify the authorities.

"Here's what happened. Emily and I went to a White Sox game last night," the caller began explaining. Strange—if they went to a baseball game, they would surely watch the Cubs on the north side of Chicago, where Emily was living.

He continued: "We were on our way back to our hotel [Emily had an apartment, so why a hotel?] when our cab was pulled over by the police. They found pot in the trunk and arrested us. I'm at the police station now with a lawyer." Mentioning an authority figure like the lawyer is another traditional ploy of this kind of scam.

I was both stunned and dubious. "Were you carrying any drugs yourselves?" I asked. They weren't. Then why were they arrested? "The police say I have to stay in Chicago for four to six weeks until the cab driver's trial. If they release us, they want $2,000 to make sure we'll come back." Both Ken and Emily are college students who were due to return to classes in a few days.

The caller wanted me to talk to the "lawyer," his partner in crime. "He's right here next to me." I could hear muted conversation in the background, but it didn't sound much like the noisy Chicago police stations I had covered early in my reporting career.

Increasingly suspicious, I said, "If all this is true, Kenny, you should talk to one of our relatives in Chicago, not me. But the whole thing seems very fishy."

"Please, Grandpa," was the heartfelt response. I had a momentary twinge, then asked, "Kenny, if that's who you are, what's your address in Los Angeles?"

The phone went dead. Unfortunately, I don't have caller ID on my office phone, so I couldn't determine where the call came from. The FTC says scammers phone from anywhere, including overseas.

The scariest part of the experience? These scammers knew my name, my grandchildren's names, my phone number and even some of our personal information, like where my granddaughter was temporarily living. How? Simple: "They buy it or steal it," says the FTC.

And sometimes, we give it right to them. Semi-intimate details about our lives often are available online for anyone willing to dig. And many people routinely announce these details to the world on social media like Facebook and Twitter. No surprise that scammers scout for targets on these networks.

And I might add, message boards.  Especially this one!!!!

After Kenny hung up, I immediately sent a warning email to extended family members. To my astonishment, I discovered that two other grandfathers in our family had been targeted as I was. One in Kentucky quickly detected the hoax; when he threatened to call police, the exchange quickly ended.

The other grandfather was home alone in California when he received a call from a stranger saying his grandson (no name given) had been arrested in Arizona after a drunken fight, was in jail and needed $1,500 bail. As stunned as I had been, the grandfather shakily asked, "Can I speak to Ralph?"

It isn't clear the scammers even had a name until then. As it turns out, scammers sometimes call numbers randomly until they reach an older person. They then mention a grandchild in trouble, and if there's an emotional appeal to talk to so-and-so, they take it from there.

The grandfather asked the young man who got on the phone, "Are you OK?" He replied, "Yes, but I need the bail money so I can go home." The grandfather's surprised response was: "You don't sound like Ralph." The clever reply: "My nose got broken in the fight, Grandpa, and I don't sound like myself."

The caller said that he knew there was a Western Union near the grandparents' home (which is true), and the grandfather, now convinced, agreed to withdraw the money and wire it immediately. (As one government official said, "Their game plan is to get you so upset that you overlook holes in their story.")

Once the grandfather was back home, the phone rang again. The caller identified himself as Ralph, thanked him for the money and asked for more. (When the first payment is so easy, scammers often move in quickly for more.) The grandfather began to realize, "Oh my God, this is a scam," and hung up.

He called his wife and told her what happened. She telephoned Ralph's mother. Her son was at work, nowhere near Arizona.

The grandfather was too embarrassed to call the police. When his incredulous friends asked, "How could you have done that?" he could only reply, "I was so concerned about Ralph, and they had the story down so well."

The lesson: If you ever get a call from or about a grandchild or any other relative in danger or trouble, and the immediate request is for cash, you need to pause, calm yourself, say you will have to consult another family member first, and hang up. Then check. If the emergency is by any chance real, you can still respond appropriately. If it's not—and the odds point to that—congratulate yourself. You just avoided being on next year's FTC list of those victimized by impostors.

===============

5 Ways to Protect Yourself

Build a wall around your computer. Use both antivirus and anti-spyware software to keep intruders from stealing personal information from your computer.

Don't open file attachments in emails from strangers. These can contain programs that enable crooks to get into your computer remotely. Be cautious on social media. Anything you reveal about your family, travels or schedule can be easily picked up by bad guys.

Ask lots of questions. If you get an impassioned call for money from a family member, take a deep breath and try not to get emotional. Instead, ask some questions that would be hard for an impostor to answer correctly. Examples are the name of the person's pet, his mother's birth date, or his boss's name.

Slow the process down. Never say yes to a money transfer based on a single call. Always hang up and do some research, such as trying to contact the person directly on her cell or work phone, or talking with someone she is close with to corroborate the situation.

Don't be embarrassed. If you fear that you have fallen prey to a scam, do not let pride get in the way of contacting authorities. And if you've wired money, immediately call the money transfer service to report the fraud. If the money hasn't been picked up yet, you can retrieve it.

ARTICLES LINK

[Kachina624]

I actually got one of these messages from an eBay seller with whom I'd been doing business.   His account was hacked.   I often wondered how many people got the message that he was overseas,  in big trouble and needed money desperately.   It was obviously a scam,  and not a very good one.   I imagine he was mortified. 

[Desertdi]

My "grandchildren" would have to have 4 legs......................

[september]

I got one of these calls, too.  I had heard about them, and didn't even have any grandchildren at the time .  I let my "grandson" talk for a while and then lit into him with all the rage I could muster.

I hope my tirade ended his career in scamming people.

[chrystaltree]

I wonder why people talk to callers when they know it's a scam.  I can't even wrap my head around that.  It's like asking the person who just stole your wallet to have lunch with you.  Is it loneliness?   Do they just want someone to talk to, even if it's someone trying to take advantage of them?  Who would take the time to give a thief a piece of their mind?  To what end?   I've had calls that I'm pretty sure are scams but it never ocurred to me to tell them what bad boys they are....lol

[september]

@chrystaltree, if you're talking about me, why didn't you just ask me directly?  Not sure you are, but I think I already explained my reason for letting the loser give his spiel. 

[akaburtonfan]

One of my parents almost got stung by this scam. Would have lost  close to $5000 if I hadn't intervened. 

[Pook]

Why would anyone ever fall for this unless there was some type of dementia?  If I even thought it was a legit call I would ask the grandchild to answer some questions only he or she would know the answers to just to make sure.

I would just toy with these scammers and let them think they got another one just to see how long it took them to figure it out.  It wastes their time and is amusing to see what lengths they will go to before giving up!!      

[evelyner]

My 88 year old mom got that call last Thursday afternoon.  She can barely walk but they sent a taxi and she went to the bank to get $9800.  UPS was supposed to come and pick up the money in a box where the money was taped $1000 a page in a US magazine.  Because of the time, UPS did not come, and the next early morning, my daughter age 45 calls her to say hi, my mom thought she was in jail waiting for money to get out.  If not for that phone call, UPS would have picked up the money, and she would have not share any info with us.  When I called her to be sure that she understood, she told me she had a tough time believing me and not the crooks.  She now has called ID on her phone which she had resisted in the past.  I also installed  a system on her bank account that tells me if more than $1000 is removed from her account. 

By the way, the teller asked her if all was ok, but she shared  nothing.  Thank God, all is well that ends well.

[SaRina]

Thank you for posting this @Mz iMac.  It's such important information.

My mom is sharp as a tack, but I'm going to remind her about this particular scam.

ETA: I saw my mom a short while ago and mentioned this to her. She rolled her eyes at me as if I thought she didn't know any better. I just reiterated for her to call me anytime she gets this type of call or doesn't know who she is speaking to.... and.... never to give out personal info to anyone over the phone.

I just got a phone call from my cell phone carrier. They wanted to know if I was satisfied with my device and service. I said I don't respond to phone calls when I don't know with whom I'm speaking. She said she could give me my personal info to confirm who I was. I said no...if you want my feedback, mail me a survey and I hung up. There's no reason to engage with anyone who makes an unsolicited phone call no matter how harmless it seems.