A scam has reached the area and seems to be targeting older residents into giving out amounts of money to who they believe are their family members in distress.
A resident recently spoke about the scam in depth, as it had targeted his mother, an elderly woman of Carbon County. She received a phone call from who she believed to be her granddaughter and was informed that she had gotten into an accident, one in which the granddaughter’s friend was driving.
The story went on to detail that the vehicle they had been driving was not theirs, but belonged an individual that was known to have drug issues. The car was reportedly searched, drugs were discovered, and the granddaughter and friend were taken to jail.
The first call supposedly came from the granddaughter in jail, who requested bail money. From there, the scam escalated when an “attorney” stepped in and gave the woman instructions on how to process the money, which included not requiring a signature when it was received by the other party.
For months, the scammers continued to contact this elderly woman and escalate the story. It was a plausible story to this woman for many reasons, with one being that they were able to mimic the granddaughter’s voice and personal information via social media.
The elaborate scam continued for weeks, ranging from the issues due to the found drugs to problems with the vehicle itself and a possible part recall. Through each step of the process, funding was needed for one reason or another, and the woman was so desperate to help her granddaughter that she kept providing it.
Throughout, the woman was apprehensive to inform anyone, including those at the bank that had grown suspicious and even her own family. She was instructed to keep it private, as it was supposedly the only way that the granddaughter could get away from the incident without a record. Finally, the woman contacted her son, who was very concerned about the situation and helped put it to a stop.
However, the family wished to have the information put forth to warn others that may fall victim. Once, while the woman was at the bank pulling funding, she heard another elderly gentleman inside the bank that sounded as if he was going through the same situation.
There are many ways that this fraud can be avoided, such as bank tellers or family members making the elderly people in their care aware that voices can be mimicked and information can be easily pulled from the internet.
If someone is requesting cash be sent, many questions need to be asked first. Simply making a phone call to the person that the scammers are claiming to be could avoid a lot of heartache and loss of money. Being told to ship money with no request of signature from the receiving end is also a red flag to look for.