Police: New phone scam targeting local seniors

STAFFORD — The Stafford County Sheriff’s Office recently reported a new scam in the area aimed at swindling senior citizens.

In July and again on Sept. 14, two senior citizens received a call from an individual claiming to be their grandson. In each separate incident the caller, pretending to be a grandson, told the senior citizen that they were in trouble in Canada and needed money to bail them out of jail, according to a statement from the police.

In this scam the senior citizen receives a call where the caller identifies himself as a grandchild in trouble with law enforcement in Canada and needs cash sent immediately to be used as bail money. Preying on the senior citizens uncertainty of which grandchild is calling, the caller is able to get the grandchild’s name and then pretend to be that person. Asking the grandparent to not call “Mom and Dad” because they want to tell them the bad news themselves, the caller then convinces the resident to send the money by money order to an address they provide, police stated.

In the incident in July and again in September, the senior citizens wired money to an address in Canada. This phone scam is also being seen in other parts of the country, the release states.

The Stafford County Sheriff's Office recommends that if anyone receives a call such as this to not send any money until they verify with other family members the authenticity of the call and the caller. Families can also develop a code word that easily identifies a family member should there be any question as to the identity of a family member who is calling. Anyone who receives this type of call may also call the sheriff’s office at (540) 658-4450.

This telephone scam comes after a mid-July impersonation ruse that bilked an 89-year-old Stafford resident out of $2,000.

According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Web site, scammers target senior citizens in several cons, including health insurance fraud, counterfeit prescription drugs, funeral and cemetery fraud, investment schemes, telemarketing fraud and more.

Seniors tend to be more trusting, according to the sheriff’s office, are home during the day while others are at work and some can be intimidated more easily. Scammers may feel they will put up less resistance.

Scammers often use the Internet to carry out their schemes. The FBI and NWC3’s 2008 Internet Crime Report is an annual compilation of information on complaints received and referred by the IC3 to law enforcement or regulatory agencies. Throughout 2008, the IC3 Web site received 275,284 complaint submissions. This is a 33.1 percent increase when compared to 2007, when 206,884 complaints were received, according to the report.

For Internet crime prevention tips and a list of common Internet schemes, visit the Internet Crime Complaint Center online at ic3.gov.