By now everyone around the world, especially grandparents, should be aware of the common ‘grandparent scam’ where unsuspecting grandparents are contacted by scammers to let them know that their grandchild has been in an accident or is in trouble and needs money. However, not everyone has gotten the message about this type of scam. People are still falling for it and losing thousands of dollars from their retirement savings.
In a recent scam reported on Fox 13 in Clearwater, an elderly woman was almost scammed out of nearly $10,000. She received a call from someone claiming to be a lawyer and needed $9,500 in cash because her grandson was in an accident. Apparently the scammer or scammers got her a ride to and from the bank via a ride-share app. Thankfully, the bank teller was suspicious and the scam was caught. Another series of similar scams were reported in Grand Rapids.
There are thousands of examples like the one above where grandparents are scammed out of their life savings. Most don’t have a happy ending like this one did. In some of these cases, it has been reported that the scammers will actually pick up the grandparents themselves and take them to the bank. This is even more worrisome than the scam itself.
The rise of AI technology is also enabling scammers involved in these grandparent scams. Voice cloning has made it really easy for scammers to impersonate voices, which dupes the victims into believing that they are actually speaking with their grandchild.
If you are a grandparent, a parent, or act as primary caregiver for any child, please be wary of any calls demanding money in the form of cash, gift cards, cryptocurrency, etc. regardless of whether or not you think you may know the person. If you do get a call from someone you know who needs money because they are in trouble, try to call or text the person or other friends or family members who may know of their whereabouts. If you do believe the call to be a scam, notify law enforcement officials.
