Beware of "The Grandson Scam"
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
By Sgt. Katie Larson
Shoreline Police
One of our volunteers at the Eastside Storefront received this call. Officer McKinney followed up on this and received the information pertaining to the Grandson scam from Canadian Law Enforcement.
“In the grandson scam, victims receive a call from someone pretending to be their grandson. The caller claims to be in trouble with the law in Canada and asks his “grand-parent” to send him money to come back to the United States, promising to pay it back. The caller asks for the money to be transferred via a money transfer outlet and tells the victim that he will call back to get the transaction reference number to pick up the money. Of course, the caller asks the victim to remain discreet about all this. It is only later that the victim realizes that their grandson never went to Canada and never asked for money. In most cases, the victims are seniors who have not seen their grandson for several years.
Over the course of the last several years scams of this nature seem to be on the increase. In a majority of these scams it is required that the victim send money in the form of a money order, certified check or money transfer to receive a prize, a product or a service.
Never send money without first verifying the authenticity of the caller. People should ask the caller for a phone number where the caller can be reached or, in the case of the scam uncovered by Canadian authorities listed above, they should ask for specific information that the caller should know, for instance the number of children in the family, parent’s names, etc...
In most cases if it’s a scam, the caller will hang up.”
There are numerous scams out there and Shoreline has not been immune. Typically, we find that senior citizens are targeted. Unlike the scam listed above, in most cases the caller is informing the victim that they “won” something. The victim is asked to “front” money in order to get the prize or additional cash. In most cases the bank accounts associated with these frauds are out of the country or on the east coast.
The best Crime Prevention tip I can give you………if it sounds too good to be true it is!
Shoreline Police
One of our volunteers at the Eastside Storefront received this call. Officer McKinney followed up on this and received the information pertaining to the Grandson scam from Canadian Law Enforcement.
“In the grandson scam, victims receive a call from someone pretending to be their grandson. The caller claims to be in trouble with the law in Canada and asks his “grand-parent” to send him money to come back to the United States, promising to pay it back. The caller asks for the money to be transferred via a money transfer outlet and tells the victim that he will call back to get the transaction reference number to pick up the money. Of course, the caller asks the victim to remain discreet about all this. It is only later that the victim realizes that their grandson never went to Canada and never asked for money. In most cases, the victims are seniors who have not seen their grandson for several years.
Over the course of the last several years scams of this nature seem to be on the increase. In a majority of these scams it is required that the victim send money in the form of a money order, certified check or money transfer to receive a prize, a product or a service.
Never send money without first verifying the authenticity of the caller. People should ask the caller for a phone number where the caller can be reached or, in the case of the scam uncovered by Canadian authorities listed above, they should ask for specific information that the caller should know, for instance the number of children in the family, parent’s names, etc...
In most cases if it’s a scam, the caller will hang up.”
There are numerous scams out there and Shoreline has not been immune. Typically, we find that senior citizens are targeted. Unlike the scam listed above, in most cases the caller is informing the victim that they “won” something. The victim is asked to “front” money in order to get the prize or additional cash. In most cases the bank accounts associated with these frauds are out of the country or on the east coast.
The best Crime Prevention tip I can give you………if it sounds too good to be true it is!
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