Caution: Senior Scams

The Grandparent Scam

The grandparent scam is a very simple, but effective trick because it uses one of older adults’ most reliable assets - their hearts.

Scammers will place a call to an older person and when the senior citizen picks up, they’ll say something along the lines of: “Hi Grandpa, do you know who this is?” Often, the unsuspecting grandparent will actually guess the name of the grandchild that the caller most sounds like, BINGO, the scammer has established a fake identity without having done any background research.

Once “in,” the fake grandchild will usually ask for money to solve some unexpected financial problem (overdue rent, DUI, payment for car repairs, etc.), to be paid via Western Union or MoneyGram, which don’t always require identification to collect. At the same time, the scam artist will beg the grandparent “please don’t tell my parents, they would kill me.”

While the amounts from such a scam are likely to be in the hundreds, the very fact that no research is needed makes this a scam that can be perpetrated over and over at very little cost to the scammer.

Serving: Kilmarnock, Irvington, White Stone, Deltaville, Urbanna, Saluda, Gloucester, Montross, Tappahannock, Warsaw, Farnham, Heathsville & Reedville, Virginia

Visiting Angels, NNMP, 68 South Main Street, Kilmarnock, VA 22482         

 804-435-2229

Visiting Angels.com/midbay