Scams That Target Older Americans
 

Here I go again, connecting you to a radio clip from NPR. I heard it on Tuesday afternoon. I find this to be infuriating. The "Grandparent Scam" was also on our local news recently. It has happened here in Cincinnati.

There sure are lots of different kinds of scams done by telephone, in addition to all those others via computer.

I received a call the other day, trying to convince me that I had signed up to win a Mercedes. I don't sign up for stuff like that. I am on the "Do Not Call" list for whatever that's worth. I don't know what that call was about, but I am quite capable of ending a phone call, no matter how hard someone may be trying to keep me on the line. There are also those "survey" calls. I get rid of those, too. I am suspicious of any calls like that.

The "Grandparent Scam," which should be so obvious, sadly, too often, is not. Many have been taken. The best defense is to get the word out.

In the "Grandparent Scam" the caller says, "This is your favorite grandson (granddaughter)," but does not say a name. The caller asks for money to be wired because he or she is stranded, in trouble, whatever. And then there is a, "Please do not tell my parents," request in it.

The "Grandparent Scam" is working. It's evil stuff.

This is for real.

Here is Tuesday's "Talk of the Nation" from NPR. Please share the information. And if you know elderly people who may be easy targets, please educate them to beware. This show is well worth listening to.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...oryId=97466835

Boomer

evil people
 

After working 18 years in the law enforcement environment I thought I had heard it all but they keep coming up with new scams. I still can't believe there are such evil people in the world who also prey on innocent children and older adults :ohdear: ! Thanks for the heads-up.

This exact scam actually happened to a friend of ours this past summer in Connecticut. She got a call from someone in Canada. This person tried to pass herself off as her granddaughter asking for money to be wired to her. Thankfully, she knew her granddaughter was not visiting Canada and hung up on the caller. The strange part was the caller identified herself using her Granddaughter's correct first name. How on earth do these people fine out all this information?

The real name thing does not surprise me. This scam is getting so much coverage. I saw an interview with an elderly gentleman on local television, explaining how this happened to him. I thought at the time that the wrong person watching could get an idea and either already know or find out a name pretty easily.

Whoever invented this one knows that grandparents are so often pushovers for their grandchildren (I know I am) that the scammers might have a good chance of pulling it off.

This has also been used in other ways. One that was reported was an employee supposedly stranded out of town, having had money and credit cards stolen. Sometimes these scammers have just enough information on actual situations to be able to put it all together to commit the crime.

Boomer

What I Don't Understand
 

about this is wouldn't the grandparents recognize their own grandkids voices? Of course, I only have two old enough to be asking for money, but I would know it wasn't them if someone else tried to do this to me. They would also get the third degree before any money went anywhere. ;)

It's terrible though. I had a neighbor who was bilked out of $7,000 in a scam. No one wanted to believe me that this really happened until it came out in the newspaper.