Elderly Resident Targeted In 'Grandparent' Phone Scam, Loses $6,000
PALOS PARK, IL — An elderly woman withdrew several thousand dollars to bail her “granddaughter” out of jail and then handed over the money to a person sent to collect it, Palos Park police said
The call came on Monday from a young female posing as the woman’s granddaughter, who said she was being held by Chicago police on various charges and needed bond money immediately.
“She was given a variety of reasons why she shouldn’t contact police,” said Chief Joe Miller, of the Palos Park Police Department.
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The woman went to her bank, where she withdrew money. She met a man near her home who was sent to collect it and handed him $6,000. Police said the man was wearing a surgical mask. She quickly realized she had been scammed and contacted police.
“Remember, Illinois now has cashless bail,” Chief Joe Miller said. “Our investigators are following up and canvassing the area for video and other digital evidence.”
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Miller said numerous phone and text scam attempts have been reported in recent weeks. On Thursday, a woman was working at home when she received a text from her pastor asking for gift cards to help children with cancer.
After she purchased $600 worth of gift cards from Amazon and texted the numbers and PINs back to her pastor. She soon learned the text did not come from her pastor.
“The scammer will ask you to buy a popular gift card frequently, iTunes, Google Play, or Amazon and then ask for the gift card number and PIN on the back of the card,” Miller said. “Those numbers let the scammer immediately get the money you loaded onto the card. And once that’s done, it is hard to recover, it’s like sending cash.”
“Obviously one of the cornerstones of churches is giving,” Miller added. “We know scammers play off emotions. It’s why the church gift card scam often works.”
If you think you’ve been the victim of a gift card scam, report it immediately to local police. Call the gift card company and tell them it was used in a scam. The Federal Trade Commission has contact information for the more popular gift card companies frequently used by scammers.
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