Senior citizens: Beware of scammers

Even though falling for the hyperbolic, outlandish Nigerian prince email seems like a punchline to some, scams are no joke.

Pat, a Clermont County woman, was called by an individual in New Jersey pretending to be her grandson. To make it even more convincing, he somehow had the actual name of the grandson.

“I was very, very upset when the call came,” she said.

The scammer concocted a fantastical tale: he was in a car crash in New Jersey and somehow ended up arrested and end in jail. He needed Pat to send him $3,000 to bail him out of jail.

“I said, ‘You don’t sound like you,’” Pat responded to the man.

But he was ready with an explanation: stemming from the car wreck, he had suffered a broken nose and his lips were stiched, hence the difference in the voice.

Then another man came on the phone to try to add credibility to the scam, pretending to be the other man’s attorney.

Pat said it was very believable and then her husband got on the line, realized it was fake and ended the call and fortunately, the scam.

“How did they get that information?” Pat said, referring to not just the grandson’s name but her name and number.

She was upset and in tears over it and it’s an incident that’s bothered her for a week, she told The Sun.

Pat told her story to The Sun in hopes that such scams don’t happen to anyone else or go further than the one that happened to her.

Seniors are thought to be ample prey for scammers because it’s thought they have more savings compared to other adults. Additionally, they are a low-risk crime since most don’t report the scam.

If you have been the victim of fraud or an attempted fraud, you can call local law enforcement or go through the Ohio Attorney General’s Office at www.ohioattorneygeneral.gov/about-AG/contact/report-a-scam or call 1-800-282-0515. If you wish, you can even remain anonymous.

An additional resource is the Federal Trade Commission at 1-877-701-9595 or www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov.
Read full content from www.clermontsun.com