[Schaumburger]

A few days ago my 81 year old father called me at work. He had just received a phone call from a young man (who did not identify himself by name) addressing my dad as "Grandpa" and asking my dad for $2,000 to get himself bailed out of jail. My father has 3 granddaughters, no grandsons. One of my sisters has a 24 yr. old stepson who is in the military stationed in Texas. My dad thought maybe it was my sister's stepson calling him because he was too embarrassed to call his parents for bail money. Luckily my father was somewhat suspicious, told the caller his didn't have that kind of money readily available and hung up on the scammer. I told my dad about this scam that has been going on for a few years about people posing as grandkids and calling senior citizens for bail money/emergency car repair money/emergency medical care money, etc.

A friend of mine actually fell for a similar phone scam a couple of years ago, and she is only in her early 50's -- she got scammed out of about $300, so you don't have to be a senior citizen to be approached. But she should have known better than to send money to someone she never met in person.

Wonder if these lowlifes just start dialing numbers at random during the day, as most people answering home phones on weekdays are probably either retired senior citizens, stay-at-home moms, second or third shift workers or the unemployed. Once they get someone who sounds like a senior citizen on the phone, the scam starts. Be careful out there.