Fake Grandson Tricks Granny Out of $26K In Phone Scam

Written by Lorraine Swanson

A 65-year-old Colorado woman was tricked into giving $26,000 to a male caller who pretended to be her grandson, reports said.

Wheaton police said the woman was in town caring for an elderly relative when she received a call on her cell phone the afternoon of Feb. 13.

According to the report, a male caller identified himself as her grandson. When the woman said the caller’s voice didn’t sound like her grandson, he told her he had strep throat.

The caller explained that he needed money to get out of jail and not to tell his parents. The woman, wanting to be her grandson’s confidant and help him to get out of trouble, did not ask any further questions, such as which jail he was locked up in and what crime he committed.

Police said the woman withdrew $8,000 from her bank and deposited the money to a Bank of America checking account, believing she was sending her grandson bail money.

Later on, she received another call from her grandson, asking for more money so he could get a lawyer. The male caller handed the phone over to a law enforcement officer named “Officer Wilson,” her instructed the woman to transfer another $10,000.

She received yet another phone call allegedly to assist her grandson, asking for an additional $8,000 to be transferred to the Bank of America checking account. The woman called her son and spoke to her actual grandson. Both said that he wasn’t in jail and had been scammed.

Police reversed the phone number on the woman’s cell phone which had originated in Saint-Laurent, Quebec.

Upon further investigation, the woman told police that directly deposited the cash to an unknown female and thought two of the transactions went to Washington, D.C. and the other to New York.

Police obtained copies of the deposit clips and are investigating the account that the money was deposited too.