by Megan Herrera
“Grandma! It’s me, your grandson. I’m in a bind!” Many emergency or “grandparent’ scams begin with words like these on the other end of your phone line. The voice is usually explaining an arrest or car accident in another state or country, and pleads for money but doesn’t want his or her parents informed. The problem is – the caller isn’t your grandchild – the caller is a con artist.
Once the fraudster explains the alarming story, he or she requests money to be wired through a transfer company, often Western Union or MoneyGram. Another method used as of late is to ask you to load a prepaid debit card like a GreenDot MoneyPak, and give the serial number to the scammer who still has you convinced he or she is your grandchild. This prepaid debit card method is becoming more widespread as the Federal Trade Commission has focused heavily on reducing wire transfer fraud in recent years. All of these methods, however, are essentially untraceable and once the money is transferred, it’s gone into the hands of the scammer and there is little or no recourse.
If you receive such a call, don’t give any information and hang up. Call your grandchild directly and his or her parents. Unfortunately, reports to the BBB have even mentioned twists in which the grandparent calls their grandchild, but the scammer answers. Technology can allow for such sophisticated schemes completely unbeknownst to your grandchild.
To be proactive, talk about this scam with your grandchildren and their parents and establish a code word or phrase to ask if any strange calls ever occur. If you have been victimized by this scam, report the incident immediately to your local police department and BBB.
Megan Herrera, BBB’s Communications Director: mherrera@denver.bbb.org.