Waukesha Woman Scammed Out $12,000 In Grandparent Phone Ruse

WAUKESHA, WI— A woman was swindled out of $12,000 after falling victim to a grandparent scam, according to the Waukesha Police Department.

Police responded on Tuesday of a woman who received a call that her granddaughter was in a accident and needed help. The scammer had the victim to go to the bank and get cash then someone came and got it, the log said.

Another woman reported a scammer tried to scam her out of $14,000. The male caller claimed to be trying to coordinate bail for the caller's granddaughter. The woman became suspicious before she sustained any financial loss. The woman told police she was concerned about the amount of personal information they had about her. She was provided numbers for fraud alert companies if she wanted to call for alert status on credit, the log said.

Con artists extort a few hundred dollars at a time in what the Senate committee estimates is a $42 million annual haul from the grandparents scam. Overall, financial scams cost older Americans $3 billion every year, the committee estimates.

The grandparent scam is "simple, yet very devious" in that it "exploits that relationship a grandparent has with a grandchild," Randy Brauer of the National Council on Aging told Patch for a previous story. Older Americans are a target of choice among con artists, partially because they're seen as vulnerable, but primarily because of the perception "they're sitting on piles of money," Brauer said.

The Federal Trade Commission offers this advice:

• Resist the urge to act immediately.
• Verify the caller’s identity. Ask questions that a stranger couldn’t possibly answer.
• Call a phone number for your family member or friend.
• Check the story out with someone else in your family or friends.
• Don’t send cash, gift cards, or money transfers – once the scammer gets the money, it’s gone.

For more information, read Family Emergency Scams. And if you get a scam call, report it to the FTC at ftc.gov/complaint.

Beth Dalbey, Patch Staff, contributed to this report.