Middletown Township police warned the public this week about what they are terming “Grandparent Scam 2.0.”
The FBI has said elderly Americans lose $3 billion annually due to fraud.
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Officer Melissa Robison released the following information on the scam:
Many people know about the typical grandparent scam, where a “grandchild” calls their grandparent asking for money for bail, an accident or some other reason. They ask the elderly person to buy gift cards, wire money or transfer funds in someway.
As if defrauding an old person can’t get any scummier, these (fill in your own colorful nouns/adjectives) have taken this another scary step further. In several towns in both Bucks and Montgomery County, the “grandchild” or their “attorney” speaking to the elderly person said they will send a courier to their home to pick up the money. You read that correctly, A PERSON ACTUALLY SHOWS UP AT THIER HOUSE to take the cash. Thousands have already been lost, so PLEASE talk to your elderly parents, neighbors, friends etc.
The BEST way to defeat this scam…hang up the phone and call your grandchild on the number that you have for them. Not the one provided to you by the caller. Once you’ve determined it is a scam, STOP answering the phone to unknown numbers. Do NOT give out your address, do not meet them anywhere in public.
Be mindful of other warning signs…their voice sounds different (which is typically explained by a “bad cold”), they are in a foreign country on a vacation you knew nothing about and they are begging you not to tell their mom and dad (call their mom and dad and/or your grandchild to confirm the story is fake), they are in an “accident” and need money fast (any time they are creating a HUGE sense of urgency…BEWARE).
And finally…. if you work with or at a location with lots of grandparents and would like someone from the police department to do a presentation about something like this, please reach out. We want to be proactive in protecting our aging population and get the word out. I know what you’re thinking…COVID… but if you have a larger room to spread people out safely, I’m happy to do it. Zoom is always a possibility and I’m open to other creative ways you come up with getting out this important information!
The officer can be reached at mrobison@mtpd.org or 215-750-3876.
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