BEAVER — The Beaver Police Department is warning residents of a phone scam that has returned to the area, called “The grandparent scam.”
The department warns scammers target elderly residents, claiming to be an attorney, judge or bail bondsman.
The scammers claim the individual’s grandchildren were arrested, often “linking the arrest” to a recent accident, and ask for money to be used for bail or other court costs.
“The callers will be very persuasive. The caller will stay in communication with the ‘grandparent’ while they retrieve cash money from the bank,” the department said in a release.
Police state while the individuals are on the phone with the caller, another person associated with the scam will typically show up to their house to collect, and be even more persuasive about collecting.
The department said this scam has been successful over the past couple of weeks in western Pennsylvania, including in Beaver County. The department also asks to call them or another local department if a resident has been, or feels they have been a victim of a scam.
How to protect against the scams
The Consumer Federation of America issued advice on how to identify and prevent these types of “grandparent” scams.
They said scammers sometimes choose their targets randomly, others use marketing lists, telephone listings, and information like social networking sites and obituaries, while others hack into email accounts and send messages to everyone in the account’s contact list.
The…
