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  Geebo 8:00 am on June 9, 2022 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: couriers ( 2 ), grandparent scam, moneygram ( 5 ), Scams ( 1,230 )   

  Why are grandparent scammers showing up at the door? 

  

  By Greg Collier

  The police in a Maine resort town recently reported two separate instances of the grandparent scams, where two victims had been taken for a combined $30,000. In both of these instances, the scammers posed as couriers who picked up the money in person.

  Unfortunately, the grandparent scam has been finding victims for some time now. For new readers, the grandparent scam is when scammers will call an elderly victim posing as one of the victim’s grandchildren. They’ll claim they’re in some kind of legal trouble and need money for bail or other legal fees. In numerous instances, the scammer posing as the grandchild will pass the call off to another scammer posing as an attorney, the police, or a bail bondsman to make the scam seem more believable.

  When the grandparent scam first started making headlines, the scammers were asking for their payment in gift cards or money transfer services like MoneyGram. More recently, the scammers have shown up at the victim’s homes claiming to be couriers to take the money to the supposed grandchild. One could assume that may be just so the scammers could get the money quicker. However, according to police from Maine, there are a couple of reasons why the scammers do this.

  When trying to collect money through a service like MoneyGram, the scammers still have to produce some form of identification. This requires the scammer to have false identification, which takes time and money. Showing up at the victim’s home requires neither. There’s also the perception that since a courier is picking up the money, the courier must be a local person, which adds credence to the scam. However, scammers posing as couriers are usually either from another part of the country or even overseas.

  If you or someone you know receives one of these phone calls, it’s best to hang up and contact the person the scammers are claiming to be. Scammers will try to pressure you into staying on the line, however, if someone is truly in legal trouble, it’s not going to make matters worse if you verify their story.

  As always, we ask that if you know an elderly person or couple who live alone and may not have access to the internet, please let them know about this scam.

   

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  Geebo 8:00 am on May 17, 2022 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: arrest warrant ( 22 ), bail bonds scam ( 6 ), bail bondsman ( 2 ), grandparent scam, Scams ( 1,230 )   

  Parents also targeted in arrest scam 

  

  By Greg Collier

  There’s a scam we’ve covered many times before known as the grandparent scam. This is when scammers will pose as an elderly victim’s grandchild, while also claiming to be in legal trouble. The goal is to try to swindle money from the victim disguised as bail money or legal fees. Sometimes, the scammers will pose as law enforcement, bail bondsmen, or attorneys instead of a grandchild, but the scam remains mostly the same.

  Grandparent scam can be a misnomer, though. While the scam largely targets the elderly, some scammers will target any relative. Previously, we’ve seen scammers target aunts and uncles, but now, they’re going directly after parents.

  A woman in Alabama recently received a call from someone claiming to be her adult son. The son claimed to have been in a wreck. Then someone claiming to be a lawyer got on the call and said the son was being charged with felony DUI. The lawyer said that bond was being set at $120,000 and 12% of that would need to be paid to get her son out of jail. The lawyer then gave the woman a phone number to a bail bondsman who would collect the almost $15,000.

  The bail bondsman said she would have to give the money to the lawyer she spoke to, and he would forward the money electronically to the bail bondsman.

  It was then the woman realized that neither the son, the lawyer nor the bail bondsman told her where the wreck occurred. Sensing something was wrong, she used her work phone to call her son, who was ok and had not been in a wreck. The caller had hung up at this point.

  I imagine that some people are asking how she couldn’t recognize the voice of her own son. Scammers will often claim to have had their nose or mouth injured in the accident as to why they don’t sound normal.

  If you were to receive a call like this, it’s recommended you politely hang up to verify the story. Scammers will try to keep you on the line at all costs. Then contact the person who’s supposedly been arrested to make sure they’re ok. No one has ever been sentenced to extra time because their emergency contact wanted to verify their story. Once you determine your loved one is ok, it’s recommended that you contact your local police to let them know this scam is going around in your area.

   
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  Geebo 8:03 am on April 11, 2022 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: grandparent scam, pennsylvania ( 7 ), Scams ( 1,230 )   

  Man saved from grandparent scam by store owner 

  

  By Greg Collier

  Typically, when we talk about the grandparent scam, either a victim has been taken for a lot of money, or there’s been a new method used in the scam. This time we’re bringing you reasonably good news for once as an attentive store owner has prevented an elderly man from falling victim to the scam.

  Before we get to that, we always talk about how the scam works. While the grandparent scam has a number of variations, they all basically follow the same tactic. A scammer will call an elderly victim and pose as one of the victim’s grandchildren. The phony grandchild will claim that they’ve gotten in some kind of legal trouble, usually a DUI where someone was injured. If the victim claims that the caller doesn’t sound like their grandchild, the caller will say their nose was broken and that’s why they sound different. As with most scams, the goal is to get the victim to give money to the scammers. In the grandparent scam, the impostor grandchild will ask for bail money or legal fees that often total into the thousands of dollars. Over the past few years, it’s become one of the more prolific scams across the country.

  More recently, places like banks and stores that sell gift cards have become wary to these scams and have saved victims from losing their life savings. In Pennsylvania, an owner of a UPS store saved a man from losing $12,000 to the scam. The owner could tell the package the man was asking to have delivered was full of cash, but the victim claimed the package contained documents and pleaded the store owner to just send the package. The package was supposed to be delivered to an attorney’s office to get the victim’s grandson out of jail, but the store owner showed the man that the address it was being sent to was an apartment building. The store owner was able to locate the man’s grandson on social media and was able to call him to prove he wasn’t in jail. The scammers had asked for $12,000 that the man had almost sent to them.

  Unfortunately, not every store and bank employee knows the telltale signs of this scam, so many people need to protect themselves instead. If you or someone you know receives one of these phone calls, it’s best to hang up and contact the person the scammers are claiming to be. Scammers will try to pressure you into staying on the line, however, if someone is truly in a legal jam, it’s not going to make matters worse if you make additional calls to verify their story.

  Again, we ask that if you know an elderly person or couple who live alone and do not have access to the internet, please let them know about this scam.

   
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  Geebo 8:00 am on March 15, 2022 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: elder fraud ( 4 ), elder scam ( 6 ), gangs, grandparent scam, Scams ( 1,230 )   

  Are gangs showing up at your grandparents’ home? 

  

  By Greg Collier

  The grandparent scam has been going on all over the country for a while now. The scam itself has evolved so many times, it seems like it’s taken on a life of its own. The latest evolution of the scam will probably cause even more concern than its past iterations.

  The grandparent scam is named that way because it largely targets the elderly, and the scammers pose as the victim’s grandchild. The bogus grandchild will claim they’re in jail or some other kind of legal trouble and need money, such as bail or legal fees. These scams typically cost their victims thousands of dollars.

  When these scams first started, everything was done over the phone. The scammers would have their victims send money either through gift cards, money transfers, or even cash in the mail. However, as more people became aware of the scam, the scammers started changing their tactics. Instead of trying to get payment over the phone, the scammers would send unwitting Uber drivers to collect cash from the victims. Then the scammers started getting more brazen and would show up at their victims’ homes themselves, posing as couriers.

  If these situations weren’t alarming enough, a report out of the Pacific Northwest states that it’s not just overseas scammers that are getting in on stealing from the elderly. According to the AARP, they’ve started seeing instances of street gangs engaging in the grandparent scam. It’s believed that if caught, gang members will serve less jail time for the grandparent scam than they would if they were committing more violent and illicit crimes associated with gangs. This is potentially disheartening because most scammers will try to get as much out of their victims as possible. With gangs, this could lead to robberies or home invasions.

  The best prevention for avoiding this scam is to be forewarned. If you receive a phone call from someone claiming to be a loved one who’s been arrested, hang up and verify their actual location. If you can’t reach them, contact someone in your family who would know where they are. Often in these scams, the scammer will try to get the victim not to tell anyone else, but that never helps anyone. Also, try not to give out any personal information while on the phone with potential scammers. For example, if the callers says ‘Grandma?’, don’t use any of your grandchildren’s names in response.

  As always, we ask that if you have an elderly relative or neighbor who may be vulnerable to this scam, we ask that you share this post or the article we linked to about this scam.

   
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  Geebo 9:00 am on January 24, 2022 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: grandparent scam, Long Island ( 2 ), new york ( 16 ), Scams ( 1,230 )   

  Grandparent scams the scammers 

  

  By Greg Collier

  We don’t often talk about scammers being arrested for a few reasons. One is that more often than not, scammers are based overseas, which makes them difficult to apprehend and prosecute. Another reason is that in numerous instances, it’s best to just hang up on a scammer than to try to confront them. However, there was a story reported over the weekend that was just too good not to share.

  This particular story involves the grandparent scam. Longtime readers will know the grandparent scam is when scammers call an elderly victim pretending to be one of the victim’s grandchildren. Typically, the scammer will say that they’ve been involved in some form of legal trouble and need money for bail or other legal fees. Then the scammer will ask that the fake fees be paid in some convoluted manner that will be hard to trace.

  Recently, scammers tried this on a 73-year-old grandmother from Long Island. The caller claiming to be her grandson said he had been arrested for a DUI and needed $8,000 for bail. The scammers called the wrong grandmother because not only does she not have any driving age grandchildren, but she’s also a former police dispatcher. She is said to have played along with the scammer. The scammer said a courier would be coming to her house to pick up the money. The woman called police and when the ‘courier’ showed up, she handed him an envelope full of paper towels. That’s when police were able to arrest the 28-year-old suspect.

  While it’s always good to see an alleged scammer get their comeuppance, we don’t recommend letting them come to your home like this. This instance was a special circumstance since the woman had procedural knowledge of law enforcement. In most cases, if you know someone is trying to scam you, hang up and then call police to let them know this scam is in the area. Too often, grandparent scammers are now posing as couriers, and you don’t want them coming to your home. Who knows what they could do later if they know where you live and know that you have money.

  And as always, if you receive one of these calls, contact the grandchild that they’re claiming is in legal trouble. You’ll probably find that they’re in no trouble at all.

   
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  Geebo 9:00 am on January 14, 2022 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: cybersecurity ( 34 ), grandparent scam, Scams ( 1,230 ), social media ( 73 )   

  Grandchildren are huge security risks 

  

  By Greg Collier

  The grandparent scam is one of the worst scams that continues to plague seniors in our country. For those who may be unfamiliar with the grandparent scam, it’s when a scammer calls an elderly victim posing as one of the victim’s grandchildren. Typically, the scammer will say that they’re in some kind of legal trouble and need money for bail or some other legal fee. They’ll then instruct the victim not to tell anyone else in the family because they’re embarrassed, but what they’re really doing is making sure the victim’s family is unaware of the scam. This scam has cost seniors thousands of dollars at a time and has put the victim’s safety at risk.

  Grandparent scammers often possess very detailed information about the person they’re claiming to be. According to the Better Business Bureau, this is because younger generations tend to overshare information on social media. This leads the scammers to all sorts of information about the victim’s family. The reason this is important is that it circumvents one of the ways usually used to detect this scam. Security experts typically advise seniors to ask the caller a question that only the grandchild would know. Now, that answer may actually be floating around on social media.

  However, there are still ways to help you or someone in your family from becoming a victim of this scam. The best way is for your family you to set up a secret phrase or word with each other to use in case of any actual emergency. But, if you ever receive a call like this, it’s not going to hurt anyone to hang up and try to contact your family to make sure the grandchild is actually ok. Nobody arrested ever got extra jail time because a grandparent wanted to verify their story.

  Again, we ask that if you have an older family member who may not be up on the latest technology, please share this blog post with them or show them any one of the many articles about this scam.

   
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  Geebo 9:00 am on November 22, 2021 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: bail bonds scam ( 6 ), bail bondsman ( 2 ), bail scam ( 13 ), grandparent scam, Scams ( 1,230 )   

  Are scammers knocking on your grandparent’s door? 

  

  By Greg Collier

  We’re about to discuss a twist on the grandparent scam we’ve discussed before, but we think it bears repeating.

  For those who may not know, the grandparent scam is when a scammer targets an elderly victim with the purpose of defrauding them by calling the victim on the phone and claiming that one of their grandchildren is in jail and needs money for bail and legal fees. Historically, the scammers have posed as the grandchildren themselves, but as people became wise to the scam, the scammers started posing as lawyers and police. The scammers also tell their victims not to tell anyone about what’s going on, either as the grandchild not wanting the rest of the family to know or under threat of a bogus gag order by police.

  In the past, these grandparent scammers would have their victims send the phony bail money through a money transfer service like MoneyGram or through gift cards. More recently, the scammers have been sending people to the victims’ homes to collect the money personally. We have seen reports where scammers have sent unwitting Uber drivers to pick up the money, or the scammers have gone to the home themselves disguised as couriers. Recently, in Massachusetts, police have reported that the scammers are showing up at victim’s homes claiming to be bail bondsmen. After the fake bondsmen was given close to $13,000 by a victim, the scammer made the motions of making a phone call to a judge and said that the victim’s family member was on their way to being released. The family member used by these scammers was never really in any legal trouble.

  If you ever receive one of these calls, the first thing to remember is to not give out any family names to the caller. However, that may not be enough if the scammer has been tracking you through social media. What you can do is hang up and verify the relative’s whereabouts. No one has ever gotten extra jail time for a family member who wanted to check the veracity of the story. Also, bondsmen never come out to a house to collect bond money. You have to go to them, and they won’t call a judge in front of you.

  If you have any elderly family or friends who may not be aware of this scam, please share this post with them or any one of the news articles out there about it.

   
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  Geebo 8:00 am on October 12, 2021 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: banks ( 4 ), florida ( 30 ), grandparent scam, lawsuit ( 47 ), Scams ( 1,230 )   

  Should banks be held responsible when the elderly are scammed? 

  

  By Greg Collier

  An interesting legal issue has arisen in Florida, and it deals with one of the more common scams, where the elderly are usually the targets. Of course, we’re talking about the grandparent scam where scammers call the elderly to tell them that one of their grandchildren is in trouble, and they need money. This scam has claimed far too many elderly victims. However, there have been instances where banks have intervened on their customer’s behalf. Some banks have trained their employees to ask their customers questions about large or frequent withdrawals if they believe the customer might be the victim of a scam. The issue at hand here is just how responsible banks should be when it comes to protecting their customers like this?

  An elderly woman in Tampa lost $700,000 to scammers who had convinced her that her granddaughter had been in a car accident and was in legal trouble. One of the scammers posed as her granddaughter and told the woman not to tell anyone else in the family. Another scammer got on the line posing as a local attorney. As most of these scams start out, the first request was for bail money. Then more requests came in stating that money needed to be paid to the people who were supposedly injured in the accident.

  This resulted in 13 withdrawals from her bank. In some instances, the victim was instructed to leave packages of cash for couriers to pick up. The bank did ask why the woman was withdrawing so much money, but she told the bank she was renovating her home and paying a contractor who preferred to be paid in cash. This is what the scammers told her to tell the bank if they started asking questions. It’s been reported that someone did call the state’s abuse hotline, but the woman was allowed to keep withdrawing large sums of cash after the call was made.

  The victim has since sued the bank for negligence. So what do you think? Did the bank do its due diligence, or should they even be required to do so? Or is this just an unfortunate collision of coincidences that allowed the scammers to prosper?

  Wally is discussing. Toggle Comments

   
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    Wally 9:54 pm on October 20, 2021 Permalink

    I’m on the fence with this. I worked for a small bank for 8 years and really enjoyed my customers. However, one challenge that you always are scammers trying to customer’s money. Some people come into the back saying they need to withdraw X amount or do cashier’s checks to send people they don’t know.

    As a previous banker I would always ask multiple times why they are sending the money and to whom and try to deter them as much as possible and even get managers involved. Some customers [not all] will realize that it’s a scam while others will question you as the banker why you won’t give them their money so they can do what they want. I truly feel really sorry for anyone who is scammed out of their hard earned money. I have sometime refused to handle many transactions if a client refuses to take our advise.

    Banking is becoming more and more riskier everyday and I have seen it cripple some banks wit the losses they have suffer being in some installs they may have to reimburse their clients up to FDIC limits. But again, I think it’s TERRIBLE for the elderly or anyone to be scammed.

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  Geebo 8:00 am on August 23, 2021 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: bail scam ( 13 ), grandparent scam, new york ( 16 ), Scams ( 1,230 )   

  Don’t answer this question from grandparent scammers! 

  

  By Greg Collier

  Several counties in Upstate New York have reported an increase in the number of grandparent scams that are happening in their area. The grandparent scam is probably one of the most prevalent scams going today and often targets elderly individuals who are living alone, taking them for sometimes thousands of dollars at a time.

  You may well be familiar with the grandparent scam since we discuss it so often, but for new readers, here is a quick recap. This is when scammers will pose as the victim’s grandchild, claiming that they’re in some kind of legal trouble and need money sent to them right away. Usually, the claim is that the grandchild is in jail and needs bail money. IN variations of the scam, scammers will pose as bail bondsmen or police officers. Payment will be asked for, usually in cash or gift cards, since they’re virtually untraceable.

  The news report from New York goes over the usual steps on how to prevent falling for the grandparent scam, such as having a family code word or asking the supposed grandchild a question only they would know. However, the article also gave us one more way of protecting yourself, and it’s a simple one. Often, but not always, the scammer will open the phone call with “Do you know who this is?”. This way, they’re hoping that the victim volunteers the name of a grandchild. Then, the scammers can use the grandchild’s name to establish a fake emotional bond between the scammer and the victim.

  Still, the best way to prevent an elderly friend or relative from falling victim to the grandparent scam is education. If you know someone who may be vulnerable to such a scam, please consider sharing this blog post with them or any one of the news articles that have reported on it.

   
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  Geebo 8:00 am on August 4, 2021 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: bail bonds scam ( 6 ), bail scam ( 13 ), grandparent scam, Oklahoma ( 4 ), Scams ( 1,230 )   

  Pair arrested for string of grandparent scams 

  

  By Greg Collier

  When the grandparent scam first became prevalent, the scammers were satisfied with just getting their victims to pay through gift cards or money transfers. Then the scammers started using unwitting ride-share drivers as couriers to pick up payments directly from the victims. Then the scammers themselves did away with all the middle men and started collecting the payments on their own. However, that presents its own problem as it allows police to arrest these scammers at the victim’s home, as one pair of alleged scammers recently found out.

  Quickly, just for context, the grandparent scam is when a scammer calls an elderly victim and tells them that one of their grandchildren is in jail and needs money for bond. In reality, the grandchild is fine and is unaware of what’s being done in their name.

  A pair of alleged grandparent scammers from Georgia were recently arrested in Oklahoma. According to police, the pair had targeted several elderly victims in their scheme. They probably would have more victims if not for the intervention of a bank employee. The scammers had targeted an elderly man and told him his nephew was in jail. They also told the man that after he got the money, he needed to wait for a bondsman to come collect the money. The man went to his bank to withdraw $15,000, but the bank was concerned the man may be a victim of a scam. The bank asked the man a few questions and determined he was being scammed and called police. Police arrested the ‘bondsman’ who turned out to be the scammer himself. His cohort who claimed to be a ‘currency trader’ to police was also arrested as part of the plot.

  The fact that scammers are showing up at the doors of elderly victims is quite concerning, especially if the victim lives alone. It never hurts to verify the story that someone on the phone is claiming. If you think your relative may be in jail, they won’t get in any further trouble if you hang up and verify the story being given to you. Also keep in mind that bail bondsmen don’t come to you. You have to go to them if you need to post bond for someone.