A woman reported to the Banner-News Tuesday afternoon that she had received a call from a scammer with the "family member in trouble” tale.
Our caller said the number showed up as “unknown” with all 0’s on her Caller ID. “I was surprised when there was no numbers,” she said. The caller used the woman’s first name, and said “I’m your oldest grandson.” She told the newspaper reporter that she only had one grandson.
The voice on the other end of the line said, “I had a car accident and I need your help.” The woman said she asked, “Where are you?” and he answered, “I’m in Boston.”
Our caller said her only grandson lives right here in town. “I asked the caller how many grandsons do I have? He hung up before I did,” she said.
“I just kept questioning him when I knew it was not up to snuff,” she said.
According to the website of Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge, the “favorite grandchild” scam ranks third among the most common scams. Scam artists may pose as relatives or friends, calling or sending messages to urge their victims to wire money immediately. They’ll say they need cash to help with an emergency - like getting out of jail, paying a hospital bill, or needing to leave a foreign country. Their goals is to trick a person into sending money before they realize it’s a scam.
Both the Magnolia Police Department and Columbia County Sheriff’s Office have repeatedly issued warnings about various scams making the rounds in this area.
The Banner-News reminds everyone - especially senior citizens - to be extremely cautious and to never give out personal or financial information to strangers whether in person, by telephone, by mail, or email.