Law enforcement agencies warn of telephone scam targeting grandparents
Submitted by Jeff Munson on Mon, 04/21/2014 - 4:17pm
The Douglas County Sheriff's Office is warning residents of a telephone scam involving grandparents of college-aged students. The scammers recently bilked a Douglas County couple of $4,000, said Sgt. Pat Brooks. In Carson City, people have been targeted in the past with a similar scam.
The way the scam works is a caller phones a relative, usually a grandparent, and informs them their grandchild has gotten into trouble with the law while on spring break. In the most recent case, the grandchild was said to be in trouble with the law in Nashville, Tenn.
The caller requests money for the legal trouble and tells the victim to take money from their account and purchase a "Green Dot" pay card, similar to a prepaid ATM card from a local business, said Brooks.
The victim provides the access number from the card and the suspect accesses the cards and removes the money, which is difficult to trace. Recent calls have been originating from a 438 area code which is in Quebec, Canada. The caller tells the victims not to tell the parents of the grandchild about the legal problem and if they do it could prolong the process of getting them out of jail.
At least two reports of the scam have been reported in Douglas County, though none thus far this year in Carson City. According to the Carson City Sheriff Ken Furlong, the scam has been around for a few years and has targeted local residents here.
"Always know who you are talking to, regardless of caller ID," said Furlong. "Because they are calling from a place identified on the caller ID doesn't mean the call is coming from there."
Brooks said the important thing to remember is to not let yourself be a victim. In the most recent case of the Douglas County scam, the couple felt intimidated because they were lured into answering questions about their grandchild. Some of those questions that were asked were to get information out of the grandparents to make the phone call and the demand for money sound legitimate, said Brooks.
Law enforcement in general would not tell relatives and grandparents to take money out of an account and buy an untraceable Green Dot card, he said.
