Unfortunately the headline from Philadelphia is that Local Seniors Fall Victim To ‘Grandparents Scam’.

Local police departments are warning senior citizens in the region about a phone scam preying on grandparents.  The aptly named “Grandparents Scam” starts with a phone call placed in the middle of the night to a senior citizen. The scammers have been asking the seniors to wire the money using Western Union or Money Gram, services that make tracing the source very difficult.

Police warn that anyone who receives a phone call like this to take the time to verify the authenticity of the call by checking with others in the house or returning a call on a private line like a cell phone, before transferring money.

ConsumerAffairs.com exposed this scam back in November 2006.   A special report by the syndicated TV news program “Inside Edition” found that con artists were scamming seniors out of hundreds and even thousands of dollars by posing as their grandchildren.  It was one of their list of Top 10 Scams of 2006.

• Fake Lottery Scam
• Phishing-Vishing Scams
• Phony Job Scam
• Negative Option Scams
• Nigerian 419 Scams
• Pump & Dump Scam
• Bogus Fuel Saving Devices
• Grandparents Scam
• Oprah Ticket Scam
• craigslist Scam

In these more troubling economic times, it is important to be even more vigilant so as not to be taken by scams such as this.

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