'Grandparents scam' costs local residents thousands
PORTLAND, Ore. – Portland police are warning well-meaning elders that a well-worn but believable scam has cost two sets of Portland grandparents thousands of dollars before they figured out they were being swindled.
Commonly called the “Grandparents Scam,” the perpetrators typically call or email the grandparents of a young person, claim they are law enforcement officials and say their grandchild, child, niece or nephew is in jail for a crime in a foreign country and is requesting bail money or money to pay a lawyer.
Portland Police said that in January, one couple who sent $3,400 to an account in Bolivia was told their granddaughter was in a British Columbia jail. Police said they were alerted by the victim’s bank when the couple was about to wire the swindlers another $2,500.
In another case, worried grandparents wired over $2,500 to Haiti after being told their grandson was in prison there. When the scammer requested another $1,600 for “attorney’s fees,” the victims contacted their grandson’s parents who assured them their son was in school, not in Haiti.
“In both cases, the scammers had very personal information about both kids, including names and personal information, making their pitch very believable,” police said.
Scam artists can often find personal information about young people from websites such as Facebook, Twitter, MySpace or other social networks. They then use that detailed information to make a convincing case the grandchild is in trouble.
Once money has been wired to a foreign country, it is nearly impossible to get it back.
Read more about the Grandparent Scam here.
The people who do this scam are truly evil.
My parents had the same thing happen to them about our son saying he was in a "terrible BC jail". They lost thousands of dollars.....we happened to be on vacation at the time, out of cell phone reach, (although the person who was our son told my parents "I am so embarrassed, please don't tell mom and dad about this") Â and when they tried to call my son, his messages were full (as always), and they then assumed this might be true.Â
There were 3 bogus people who were on the phone with my parents...the woman secretary to the lawyer, the guy from the jail and one who sounded like our son. Mom finally caught on after 3 wires of money. Mom and dad were super embarrassed, and I couldn't believe that they did something like this....like my other son said..."if we needed money, grandma and grandpa would be the LAST people we would ever ask, and we probably wouldn't even ask them at that." But the fact is, they love their grandchildren so much that they are easily blinded to the scam and want to help them out of their "danger" whereas parents might take more of a tough love approach, or at least have their finger more on the pulse of what is really going on.
The funny thing is, they, or some other scammers with the same story, have called mom and dad again a couple times. Mom is, of course, wise to it now though, and has fun with them, telling the man impersonating my son that she is glad he is in jail after he never called her back...etc...
These kindly grandparents think of helping others first without regard as to what it cost them. Unfortunately the low life losers take advantage of this and steal from them. I don't know how you can teach people not to fall for this scam when this type if thing is publicized all the time.
The people that are responsible for this type of scam are really just scum! There should be no way that these folks should be able to do this. Why can't the relatives, mostly elderly, just verify before they empty their bank accounts. There is no way that these suspects can ever be brought to trial, as whatever country they're in will probably not acknowledge extradition requests. Secondly, the monetary amount will never cross the threshold of US agents going after them. What a pity for those folks! Out of money and out of trust! VERIFY, people! Â
It's a shame these people's grandchildren are in trouble and they can't afford to pay to help out. Is there anywhere we can donate or pay their bail directly?
 @Oregon7812 I'm a grandmother.  And just for you, I've set up a PayPal account to accept donations to help my grandchildren, trapped unfairly in a jail in Somalia or somewhere.  I'll tell ya, your offer of $10,000 is so very generous and I swear I'll use it wisely.  Any chance you could get that money into the account right away?  There's a wonderful woman from Nigeria, royalty of some kind, that wants to help too but I need to send her a Cashier's Check right away.......
 @Oregon7812  Great question! Please leave your contact information here and I will be happy to tell you where the money can be sent. Thanks for playing!
What? You believe the scammer's stories? Are you insane?
@jpk They scare
Ya, they tried this with our family (grandmother), but she was way too smart to fall for it. It was concerning, though, because the caller had a lot of information about our son. She was quick enough to tell the caller to hang on, flip over to her cell phone, call us and then ask the guy for his call back #.  By then, he figured she was on to him and he hung up, never to call back. Our son changed all his passwords, etc to his social media accounts and emails.
As much as parents need to speak with kids about certain things, eventually, kids need to speak with their parents about things like this. I feel very bad for the lady, lonely, vulnerable, scammed.
The news is full of some really gullible people the last two days.
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Scamming seems to be very profitable and tax free.
Unfortunately, you are right about this situation! And it will probably only get worse with the media attention.
While I'm empathetic to their plight, I can't help but feel that "Grandpa & Grandma" really ought to be more cautious. And while the banks aren't technically responsible for their customers use of funds, I'd think that if a customer came in asking to wire funds internationally, that perhaps somehow during conversation the reason for the wire would maybe come up, and raise some concern.
Really you send money to a bank in the middle of nowhere before picking up the phone and validating what is going on?
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Should these people still be living alone if they are that easily taken?
 @FreedomRocks My Grandma was scammed out of $1,200, she wanted to believe she was getting that "free" car. She could get around and do plenty of things, but we took control of her finances after that one.
"When the scammer requested another $1,600 for âattorneyâs fees,â the victims contacted their grandsonâs parents who assured them their son was in school, not in Haiti." Â (from the story)
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I'm sympathetic to a degree, but I can't figure out WHY the grandparents would not have called their grandson's parents after the FIRST demand for money to verify the whereabouts of their son... Â
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Guess I'm relatively safe from this particular scam...(a) I don't have any grand-kids, and (b) if some stranger asked me to send them money, I'd just laugh at them... I don't and never have had that kind of money to throw around...
The reply from the Grandparents should be: "Give me your phone number, let me check with their parents and I'll call you back." The scammers will hang up. I know the elderly are easy targets but really? Don't be so out of touch with your family that you don't know your grandchild is out of the country or children don't be so out of touch with your parents that you don't know they need monitoring. In these cases it is sad to think it's the bank that catches it before the scenario gets out of hand and not these elderly peoples own family! When parents become elderly, the roles reverse and the kids need to be all up in their business like the parents were (hopefully) when the kids were young.
@leapfrogger the only thing is, you can get a phone number and call back and they are using disposable, non trackable phones. This did happen to my family, and we do stay pretty much in touch, except for the one son who was supposedly in jail....the scammers really just play on the grandparents wanting to help out their grandchildren at all cost, making the grandparents believe that their grandchild is in real danger. It is very sad, but it happens and the best thing is to keep making grandparents aware of this scam.
 @leapfrogger This scan can be done by real bail bonds people as well wanting you to put your house on line for some relative that really is in jail. They can be brutal and cruel if you tell them no and they try and bully you into doing it.
@FreedomRocks @leapfrogger Hanging up is the best method! If they call back, Caller ID should at least get a number for them. Hangup and call 911, then report the scam. Even if the situation might be true, which I coubt, at least you have notified law enforcement. They, unfortunately will be able to do nothing, as in most cases the crime will not only have extended across state lines, but also international boundaries. But at least they may be able to put a consumer alert notification in the local papers! Be careful and be aware out there!