Sunday, September 7 is National Grandparents Day and the Better Business Bureau says it’s a great time to warn family of scams targeting seniors.
Bureau Alaska Regional Manager Michelle Tabler…
Tabler: “Scammers tend to call seniors early in the morning or late at night, when they’re less cognizant and they say hi Grandma, it’s me, they don’t necessarily say a name but in some cases either through social media or through genealogical, like Ancestry.com, they actually have the names of the grandchildren and will say Hi Grandma, it’s me Timmy, or something like that and they basically say I’ve been arrested, I’m in trouble, I’m in a foreign country, I’m in the U.S. I’m in the hospital I’ve been in a car accident, please don’t call mom and dad, could you please just wire me the money.”
She also gave a few tips for if family members do receive a call like this.
Tabler: “First of all there’s never a reason to wire money, really ever, number two, we ask people to basically know the red flags, ask a question of this person that’s calling, don’t ever say the name, ask a question only they would know the answer to. And we also advise families to have code words within the family so that you know that this is a legitimate call or not because these things are happening. If kids are going to be travelling or if you have military family members that are going to be deployed overseas just communicate with the family where they are going to be and what is going on.”
For more information on this or to report having been a victim of a scam like this visit the Better Business Bureau website.