Published: November 20, 2009 09:54 pm      

Seniors warned about Grandma Scam

Ethel Lambert had been awake only a moment on Nov. 12 when her phone rang.

The man on the other end of the line sounded desperate.

“Maw-maw, I’m in bad trouble,” he said.

Lambert couldn’t immediately place the voice.

“Is this Little Scotty?” the 89-year-old grandmother asked, using the nickname of her grandson in North Carolina.

“Yes,” the man replied. “I’m in bad trouble.

“I’m in jail and I need $3,000 to get out,” he said. “Can I have a credit card number?”

Lambert’s daughter, Ann Darnell of Coal City, reported Lambert didn’t have a credit card, so she urged the man to call his mother.

Hasty calls to family members revealed Lambert’s grandson had not made the call.

The call had “scared (Lambert) to death,” according to Darnell.

“The fellow was just going along with her. It is so dangerous. What if she had had a credit card?”

Officials in other states, including Virginia, Michigan, Georgia, and Wisconsin, have reported similar scams that involve bail and emergency medical care for a loved one.

The Georgia Department of Human Services even has a name for it: The Grandma Scam.

Locally, at least one other senior reported to The Register-Herald that she’d been recently targeted.

Raleigh County Sheriff Steve Tanner said his office had not been made aware of the Grandma Scam by victims, but said seniors can protect themselves by never giving out financial information over the phone and by asking the caller to leave a call-back number.

“There is no reason anybody should give a credit card number to anyone over the phone,” he said. “The exception to that is if you initiate the contact and you’re purchasing something.”

Tanner added no one can be bonded out of jail in Raleigh County via telephone.

“You can’t bond someone out by phone in any circumstance,” he said. “One hundred percent of the time, you’re going to magistrate or circuit court.

“There is no exception, and you never use credit cards.”

He also said money can’t be wired to bond anyone out of jail.

Wire transfers are difficult for authorities to trace.

Seniors should also not give out financial or personal information to a caller who says he is representing Medicaid, Social Security, a bank, hospital, doctor’s office or any other business or government organization.

Many times, the calls are scams to get financial and personal information.

Banking institutions or other legitimate businesses should already have necessary checking, Social Security and credit card information on file, Tanner said.

He said seniors should always request a call-back number from the caller.

“Any time you receive a suspicious call, get a pen and ask to call them back, and write the number down,” he said. “If they leave a number, contact someone in law enforcement.

“We can verify if they are in jail.”

Senior scams — or other suspected scams — can be reported to local police.

— E-mail: jfarrish@register-herald.com