|
Scammers are targeting Los Altos’ older residents with phone calls impersonating a grandchild in distress. The calls, which can be convincing and intimidating, prey on grandparents’ protective love and sympathy.
Longtime Los Altos resident Barbara Tierney said she received a phone call this month from a young man who sounded like one of her grandsons. The caller claimed that he had been arrested and needed money for bail, begging Tierney to help him and not tell his parents. The man on the phone had her wire money to Canada, where he said he was being held. She sent a total of $8,000 before a phone call to her banker brought her up short.
“She said, ‘Barbara, that doesn’t sound right. That’s not legal.’ I said, ‘I don’t want him stuck there. I want him home soon,’” Tierney said. “She told me, ‘If I were advising my mother, I’d say don’t send the money.’”
Tierney called her son and learned that the grandson in question, far from being in Canada, was at the library studying, here in California. When she stopped sending money, the scammers – who often work in teams – became persistent, calling her with escalating demands. She was screening her calls last week – on the day she spoke with the Town Crier, the scammer had called her six times asking for money.
Tierney advised residents to “be sure and check the person, because this boy told me he was my grandson and he sounded just like him.”
“I want more people to know this is happening,” she said.
Tierney doesn’t know how the scammer learned her grandson’s name and matched it to her contact information. Another Los Altos senior, bilked of $6,000, thinks his personal information may have been gleaned from family obituary information run in several local papers. He had a very similar story – a caller claiming to be a grandson, who reported he was arrested for driving under the influence in Quebec and needed money for an attorney.
“We’ve had quite a few calls about that,” Los Altos Community Service Officer Paco Vergara said. “They are targeting elderly people.
“My best suggestion to everybody is do not send money to anybody,” he said. “Try to get as much information as possible, write it down and bring it to us. Contact the police immediately.”
He described another older resident who recently lost $14,000 in a sweepstakes scam claiming to represent Publishers Clearing House. The callers insisted the man had to pay money up front to claim the $1 million he had won. Over a series of days, he received threatening calls from people claiming to represent the FBI and Bank of America, saying he would be arrested he if didn’t pay taxes and fees.
“It was to the point he was getting about 30 calls a day,” Vergara said. “Unfortunately, he kept sending the money because he was afraid.”
A police officer began calling back the phone numbers of the intimidating calls, which Vergara said originated in out-of-state locations including New Jersey and Las Vegas, and found the numbers disconnected or answered by people who denied any knowledge of the phone calls.
To report a scam attempt, call the Los Altos Police at 947-2770.
Contact Eliza Ridgeway at
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
No Comments
There are no comments up to now.
Post Comment
|
