Callers Turn To 'Grandchildren' In Latest Scam

[The Straight Story]

Callers Turn To 'Grandchildren' In Latest Scam

NEWARK, Ohio — Dozens of central Ohioans have been victimized by what consumer experts are calling the Grandparents Scam, and on Thursday they said the trend is growing.

A Newark couple was victimized by the fraud this week, Consumer 10's Kurt Ludlow reported.

They thought that their grandson was injured in Europe and needed money so they wired him almost $20,000.

The Consumer Federation of America said people receive a call from a person claiming to be a grandson or granddaughter.

The person on the other end offers an open-ended greeting, something like "Hi Grandpa, it's me" and the person often answers with a name of one of their grandchildren, Ludlow reported.

http://www.10tv.com/live/content/consumer10/stories/2011/03/31/story-columbus-phone-grandparents-scam.html?sid=102

[Bluzmann57]

1. Someone tried that on my dad a couple of years ago

The only problem was that I was sitting right there and I was pretty sure that 1- my son was not in Europe, and 2- he wasn't injured. I tried to give the caller a piece of my mind, but they hung up before I could. Dirty scam artists.