Scammers are once again targeting Alaskan seniors by claiming to be their grandchildren who have gotten into some sort of trouble and requesting money to be wired to them.
Alaska Regional Manager Michelle Tabler with the Better Business Bureau says just this week she had a report of someone losing tens of thousands of dollars to this scam.
Tabler: “The scammer that called, I’m not sure if they actually knew the grandchild’s name or they found it out during the course of the conversation, again, these scammers are good. They convinced these people that their grandson was in jail in Mexico, [said] ‘Grandma please don’t call mom and dad’ and they wired the money. It’s a scam.”
She says if anyone receives a call like this, hang up and attempt to contact the person reportedly calling or someone else in the family.
Tabler says the scammers use situations such as a family member being in jail or in some sort of accident in a different country to request the money being wired.
She added that in the past these sort of situations have also targeted military families who have a member deployed and Alaskans should beware of potential scams.
Anyone whose received any kind of communication such as these are welcome to report the scams to the Better Business Bureau by phone or online via their scam tracker.