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An older woman uses a cell phone.
In an effort to warn local grandparents of a crime targeting them, Groves police have alerted residents to a “grandparent scam” ploy.
According to the news release from the Groves Police Department (GPD), grandparent scams typically work something like this: A grandparent gets a call from someone posing as their grandchild. This person explains, in a frantic-sounding voice, that he or she is in trouble.
“There’s been an accident, or an arrest, or a robbery,” scammers will tell their potential victims, according to GPD. “To up the urgency, the caller might claim to be hospitalized or in jail; to make the impersonation more convincing, he or she may throw in something gleaned from the actual grandchild’s social media activity.”
In a recent case, a grandmother said the caller pretended to be her granddaughter, claiming she had been involved in an accident and was in jail. The caller stated that she needed $4,800 for her bond and gave detailed instructions of where to bring it. The grandmother spoke with a family member right after she got the suspicious call, and the family member informed her that she was the target of a scam.
As for what residents can do should they feel a grandparent scammer has contacted them, GPD advised, “Resist the urge to act immediately – no matter how dramatic the story is. Call the child’s parent. Verify the caller’s identity. Ask questions that a stranger couldn’t possibly answer. Don’t send cash, gift cards, or money transfers – once the scammer gets the money, it’s gone!”