Don’t become a victim of a scam

Recently two senior citizens in our community received phone calls from subjects indicating they were the senior’s grandsons. In each case the caller said they needed money from their grandparents to get out of jail in a foreign country.

In the first case the caller said he was in jail in Mexico and needed his grandmother to send him money so he could get out of jail. She told him to call his father and the caller said he was too embarrassed to call him. Her grandson was sitting on the couch next to his father at their home on the coast, not in jail in Mexico.

In the second incident, the caller actually knew the senior’s grandson’s name and told her he needed money to get out of jail.

She did not recognize the voice but did know it was not her grandson on the phone. Her caregiver got on the phone and was not pleasant with the caller as she suspected a scam.

Fortunately in both cases the intended victims were smart enough to know it was an attempt to scam them out of money and their grandson’s were not in jail in a foreign country.

As I watched the news last night a lady in Spokane had received a similar phone call from a caller indicating her grandson was in the hospital in a foreign country and needed life saving surgery. The doctor had to be paid in advance of the surgery. The victim believed the caller and took her life savings along with cash she got from pawning her valuable items and wired $70,000 to the doctor for advance payment of the life saving surgery.

Once the money is placed on a wire service, in this case Western Union, it can be picked up worldwide and there is no way to trace the money after it is picked up.

This lady was out her life savings because of a convincing scam artist.

If you suspect a scam, do not wire transfer or send money to anyone, call the police. If this request is legitimate your family members or the police can help you make the decision after the need has been confirmed.