BBB has been made aware of a local grandmother who fell for the Grandparent Scam, losing nearly $17,000 within three days.
October of 2008, BBBs nationwide issued a news release warning people about this Grandparent scam:
http://www.bbb.org/us/article/bbb-alert-senior-citizens-nationwide-report-losing-thousands-of-dollars-to-telephone-scam-7155
Not long after, BBB was made aware of a new take on this scam involving military personnel. Here’s how that scenario goes:
Scammers use social networking sites to contact relatives of deployed troops -- usually grandparents -- pretending to be the service member coming home on leave to surprise his/her parents. The scammers then fake a story that their car has broken down en route, and ask the grandparents to wire money to help fix the car. Once they wire the money, they have become victimized, and wired funds are unable to be recovered.
BBB ADVICE
BBB is advising people to confirm the status of the individual by calling them directly or verifying the story with other family members before taking any further action.
BBB also advises that any request to wire money through Western Union or MoneyGram should be seen as a “red flag” and an immediate tip-off that the call may be part of a scam. Funds sent via wire transfer are hard to track once received by scammers and are usually not recoverable by law enforcement or banking officials.
For anyone victimized by this type of distressed loved-one call, BBB recommends reporting the incident immediately to local police departments and state Attorneys General offices. If there is a request to wire money to Canada, the Canadian Anti-Fraud Call Centre has established the PhoneBusters hotline and Web site to report such fraud. Reports can be filed easily online through the PhoneBusters site at: www.phonebusters.com, or by phone, toll free at, 888-495-8501.