The grandma mailed and wired money over the course of 30 days totalling US$96,000 (RM422,688) trying to help her ‘granddaughter’, but the money all went to scammers, authorities say. — Photo by Timothy Muza on Unsplash
A phone call from a young woman convinced an 81-year-old Pennsylvania woman that her granddaughter was in trouble and needed her help – specifically a lot of cash.
The grandma in northeast Pa. then mailed and wired money over the course of 30 days totalling US$96,000 (RM422,688) trying to help her “granddaughter”, but the money all went to scammers, authorities say.
Northumberland County District Attorney Anthony Matulewicz released information about the crime in a news release this week. The crime fits a pattern of so-called “grandkid scams,” run by organised groups of criminals across the country who instill a sense of urgency for victims to act immediately and send money. In addition to calls from “grandkids,” the scammers can enlist fake “attorneys, police witnesses or judges,” to call victims, all in attempts to lend credibility to the scam.
Matulewicz said the case should act as a warning to others to be wary of any similar type of phone calls they might receive.
The victim in this case, from Paxinos, received the first call in late February from the woman, who said she was her granddaughter and needed money to get out of jail. The woman said she had been in a crash that was her fault and police had found drugs in her vehicle. She asked for help with legal fees and to get her record expunged.
The woman told her “grandma” that she would send all the money back once the matter had been resolved.
So the elderly woman began mailing cash and wiring payments to various locations across the country. Some transactions were rejected by employees and officials who recognised them as suspicious. Some notified the woman and one entity even called police.
But a series of phone calls from the woman over 30 days convinced the 81-year-old that her granddaughter was truly in trouble, so the victim ignored warnings that she was being scammed, according to the district attorney.
“She continued to find ways to send payments to the scammers,” Matulewicz said.
This scam was unique in that the scammers even had an “Uber” driver pick up the victim once from her home to drive her to the bank so she could withdraw a large amount of cash, which was then given to the driver.
The case is still under investigation. The district attorney did not provide any details on the progress in the case or whether the scammers were believed to be local.
The news release gave a series of advice to people, especially senior citizens, to try to avoid such scams.
If someone receives a all purported to be from a grandchild, Matulewicz said “call your grandchild directly or enlist other family members to do so. Call employers, friends and colleagues of your grandchild,” in an effort to determine where they are and if they are safe.
Northumberland County Detective Degg Stark, who has interviewed hundreds of scam victims, said much of the information used by criminals is gleaned from victims’ social media pages. Scammers find names of relatives, dates of births, names of pets, places of employment, travel plans, nicknames and other information that allow them to make legitimate-sounding pleas for “help.”
Matulewicz suggested family members establish a secrete “code word,” to be employed in an actual emergency to prove legitimacy if necessary and root out any scammers.
The district attorney also suggested people should limit personal information shared on social media sites and adjust privacy settings to limit who can see personal information. – pennlive.com/Tribune News Service
