WCYT

BEWARE of these new telephone “Granny Scams’. People posing as grandchildren are calling elderly people in the United States in search of money. They claim to be the victims’ grandchild who is in trouble and in an urgent need for money. The caller will often claim he has been in a car accident and is in need of money to fix their car, or has been put in jail and is in need of bail money. Their stories are convincing and quite accurate, and they all claim they are in some sort of trouble in Canada, and thats where the money is being sent.

Their information may come from personal websites and blogs such as Facebook or MySpace, where they are gaining information about the families and using it against them. So beware what types of information you reveal in your blogs and websites! Many of the victims have wired money to amounts of $3,000 - $4,000. The callers have no concience or shame stealing retirement money and savings from elderly persons.

There may never be a stop to the types of scams that people come up with. As an old scam fades away, a new one emerges Telephone scammers in Canada love Americans. They also have found that some of us are incredibly easy to fool. If they can concoct a convincing story, they can get people to send them thousands of dollars.

"We’ve always known con artists will stop at nothing to rip off their victims,” says Washington State Attorney General Rob McKenna. “This may be a low point – stealing from seniors by posing as a family member.”

With the “grandparent scam” the caller pretends to be a grandchild in trouble in Canada who needs money immediately. The caller often says he’s been arrested, was in a car accident or had some type of medical emergency. These phone bandits have no conscience. They would steal your parents' retirement money without batting an eyelash. And that's just what they're doing.

In 2007, the Canadian Anti-Fraud Call Centre received 128 complaints about this scam. Since the beginning of the year, more than 317 complaints were filed, and the majority of those were in July and August. This deviously clever con is very effective because it catches the potential victims off guard and tugs at their heartstrings.

“I fell for it completely,” says Bill Wilson, 79, of Sequim, Wash., who got taken for $6,500. The caller, who pretended to be his grandson, said he was in jail in Canada. “I was a little suspicious, but I thought the kid was in trouble,” Wilson tells me. He called the boy’s parents to verify the story, but they weren’t home, so he wired the money. They call you with an emotional plea and correctly identify themselves. It’s convincing!” he says.

Charlotte Becker, Wilson’s daughter-in-law, tells me the retired Naval aviator is “one of the shrewdest and most savvy people” she knows. “This must be one slick operation,” she says.

A few weeks ago, Jane and J.V. Wilson of Seattle (no relation to Bill Wilson) got an unexpected call from their grandson Mitch. At least that’s what they thought at the time.

“He said he was in trouble. He’d been in a car accident and was being held in a courthouse in Vancouver, British Columbia,” Jane remembers. “They would not let him go until he came up with the money to pay for the accident.”

The con artist pretending to be Mitch said he needed $3,500. He told the Wilsons a bailiff would call back to explain how to wire the money. A few minutes later the phone rang again with a pretend bailiff on the line.

“He said he would take our grandson to a location where he could pick up the money,” says J.V. “And when he got the money, then Mitch could be released.”

A few days later, Jane and J.V. called their grandson to make sure he was OK. Mitch – the real Mitch – told them he hadn’t been to Vancouver. That's when the Wilsons knew they'd been had. By then, the money was long gone, picked up in Montreal.

The sort of scam, based on an “emergency situation” has been around for years. But the Canadian Anti-Fraud Call Centre, also known as PhoneBusters, reports a dramatic increase in complaints in recent months – especially those linked to grandparents.

“We’ve seen tremendously high losses, usually $3,000 to $4,000 a hit,” says PhoneBusters’ spokesperson Debbie Bell. But some victims lose much more.

Fall for the scam and the bad guys will call back and try to steal even more by adding a new layer to the story. If the grandparent provided bail money, they may ask for money to repair the car. Or they may call back and say they had an accident on the way home and need money to pay hospital bills.

With this scam, the caller always insists the grandparents don’t tell anyone about the money transfer. That should be a warning flag.

WCYT

A community interest company keeping vulnerable residents in Essex safe from rogue tradesmen and doorstep conmen

www.whocanyoutrust.org.uk

Granny scam hits the States

Useful Links