Elderly Woman Swindled Out of $15,800 in Phone Scam

An 86-year-old St. Clair Shores woman lost $15,800 in a matter of days after being tricked into sending money to the Philippines by a man who called her and told her she won a consumer sweepstakes. 

St. Clair Shores police are warning residents to be aware of such scams and to not act on something they find suspicious. Additionally, Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette issued a warning for Michigan residents early Friday warning of phone-call scams targeting grandparents. 

According to the Consumer Protection Division of his office, there has been a notable increase in the last two weeks in phone-call scams in which the caller tries to extract cash from a grandparent using a story about how their grandchild is in trouble. Losses have ranged from $1,000 to $5,000 in these cases, according to the warning.

In this case, the woman's bank caught on to a suspicious transfer that was being requested. The woman was trying to send $72,000 from her own account to a bank account in the Philippines March 30. The bank put the transfer on hold and contacted the woman's nephew to inquire about it, according to police. 

Her 58-year-old nephew tried to call her but found that her phone number had been disconnected so he drove to her home and talked to her about it. She explained she had received a call from a man March 24 saying she had won a consumer sweepstakes but she had to wire $3,000 to an individual in the Philippines. 

She then received another phone call March 25 requesting $3,500; March 28 for $4,400; and March 29 for $4,900. She wired the money each time to the Philippines and received another call March 30 requesting $72,000 be transferred to a bank account in the Philippines, according to police. 

This is when her bank contacted her nephew. 

Unfortunately, it is highly unlikely the cash already sent overseas will be recovered but the bank's alert saved the woman $72,000. The woman's nephew told police he believes the man who contacted his aunt also had her phone number changed, noting that she had received several hang-up calls while he was at her home. He was answering the calls rather than his aunt and earlier that day her phone number had a disconnected message, according to police. 

The man who contacted the St. Clair Shores woman gave her a phone number, which had an Atlanta, GA area code, and asked that she call if anyone else contacted her about the transfer of the money or the sweepstakes, according to police.