'HELLO GRANDMA' SCAM

The ‘Hello Grandma’ scam, which has bilked hundreds of seniors out of their life savings, has been around for years and is particularly prevalent during spring break. The scammer telephones the unsuspecting victim pretending to be her grandson. He tells her that he got into a little trouble and needs bail money to get out of jail. He asks her to “please don’t let dad know about this.” He then gives the gullible victim instructions on how to send the money.

Here is how the Yavapai County (Arizona) Sheriff’s Department describes the scam:

“The ‘grandson’ asks for money in order to post bail and then puts a person on the line that is identified as a bail bondsman. The bondsman provides the bail amount, usually several thousand dollars, and requests the money be wired using a MoneyGram or Western Union service. In some cases the “bondsman,” aka fraud suspect, even calls back to thank the victim for their cooperation after the transaction. Many of these suspects use social networking sights, such as MySpace or Facebook, to identify family members through profiles and photos. This is followed by a simple check of online phone directories which provides a telephone number for the target victim and the scam is underway. In some cases, suspects are able to note travel plans and specific family information that makes the scheme that much more plausible to the victim.”

What is most disturbing about this scam is that many of the scam artists are prison inmates who, through the efforts of reform minded do-gooders, have been given liberal phone and internet access privileges.