With spring break in full swing, now is the ideal time for scammers to bring back a long-standing bogus emergency – the “Grandparent Scam.”
Basically, the scam is when somebody who could possibly be a grandparent receives a phone call and are told that their grandson or granddaughter is in some kind of peril.
“They could have been arrested or they could be in jail, something like that,” says Tammy Ward at the Better Business Bureau in Pensacola. “And they’re asking for money from that grandparent to send to them to pay for whatever they need – either to get out of jail or pay medical bills or something like that.”
This is an old scam, but thanks to new technology, it’s making a comeback as scammers can offer plausible stories, and incorporate nicknames and real travel plans into the con to convince their targets.
“Those social media aspects – you can ‘pin’ your relatives and you can say who they are and what relationship they are to you,” Ward says. “And if your privacy settings aren’t set so that people who are not your friends can see those kinds of relationships, then it’s very easy to look the names up and possibly get their phone numbers and give them a call.’
The fact that scammers often go to the grandparents leads to the question: why not target mom and dad?
“The grandparents have that ‘heart’ thing; where they don’t want to get their grandchild in trouble,” says Ward. “And that’s basically what the caller will say: they don’t want their mom or dad to find out. And, a grandparent really wants to take care of their grandchildren. And so they go ahead and send the money.”
A newer version of this swindle is when someone ‘spoofs’ your relatives’ phone number to make it look like they are actually calling. They’re told that their child has been kidnapped, and cannot talk to them until a ransom is paid – but Ward says very seldom with cash.
“The new way of doing things is to get gift cards – prepaid cards that they purchase,” says Ward. “And all the scammer needs is the number on the back of the card. Once they have that number, they can take the money off you electronically. They don’t even need the physical card in their possession.”
While the Grandparent scam gets more attention at spring break, the BBB’s Tammy Ward says it’s actually a year-round threat.
“It’s more prevalent at spring break because there are more young people that are going to different places and they’re not staying home when they’re off of school,” Ward says. “Sometimes there are different times during the year – like maybe summertime.”
But the good news is, there are ways to fight back. If you answer such a call, resist the urge to act immediately; and don’t believe them right away, no matter how dramatic the story.
“Ask to speak to that person and if they say ‘well you can’t do that,’ contact someone without that person on the phone knowing that knows where your child or grandchild is,” says Ward. “And just double-check and see where they actually are.”
Also, ask questions that would be hard for an impostor to answer correctly; and know what your family members are sharing online. And to report a scam, go to www.bbb.org and use the Scam Tracker.