The phone rang one evening. “Tom,” a Harpswell resident who agreed to share his story on the condition of anonymity, couldn’t quite understand the mumbling voice. “Who do we have here?” asked Tom. “Hi, Grandpa, it’s your grandson,” the voice said. Tom was so excited to hear from his grandson, even saying his grandson’s name, that he didn’t realize the call was the beginning of what is referred to as the “grandparent scam.”
In the first nine months of 2023, the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center received almost 200 complaints about the grandparent scam, with losses approaching $2 million. In 2022, the center reported that more than 88,000 people older than 60 fell victim to a variety of scams, resulting in more than $3 billion in losses.
“Looking back, I should have gotten the hint right away, because he doesn’t call me Grandpa,” said Tom. “But most of us don’t walk around not trusting people.”
The person impersonating Tom’s grandson said, “I’ve been in a car accident in New Hampshire and I need $4,500 for the bail bondsman.” They told Tom to locate a certain bank branch and wait to hear from them the following day.
The call the following day came from a person identifying himself as the grandson’s court-appointed attorney. He escalated the story by telling Tom the accident involved a pregnant woman who was seeking medical attention.
Anxious to help his grandson, Tom informed the caller that the bank did not have branches in Maine. He was then instructed to buy cash gift cards and give the “attorney” the numbers on the cards.
Only able to purchase $2,000 worth of cards, his wife went to her bank to withdraw the additional funds. As she was friends with one of the tellers, Tom’s wife tearfully explained why she was withdrawing the money. The teller told her, “If it seems like a scam, it probably is.” It was at this point that Tom called his grandson’s phone number and learned that he was not in jail and had not been in an accident.
With the increased use of technology and scammers located all over the world, Cumberland County Sheriff Kevin Joyce stressed that deliberation is the key to protecting yourself. “Slow things down and don’t act in haste,” Joyce said. “Part of the scammer’s plan is to get inside your head — to get you to make quick decisions. That’s when mistakes are made.”
Glennis Toothaker received a phone call from someone about her Medicare card. “They wanted to be sure I had received my new card,” recalled Toothaker. “I said to them, ‘If you’re calling to get my Medicare number, I’m not giving you any information,’ and they hung up. I wanted them to know I knew it was a scam.”
Scams range from the grandparent and Medicare scams, to impersonating IRS agents who say you owe back taxes, to law enforcement and court personnel who say you missed a court date, to offers of tech support with requests to access your computer, to saying you’ve won a sweepstakes but need to pay a fee to collect the money — and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. A variety of agencies that advocate for older adults have several tips to help protect yourself:
– Never give out any personal information over the phone.
– Beware of anyone who asks you for personal information, asks you to send money, or asks you not to tell anyone about a phone call.
– Don’t answer the phone unless you know who is calling. If someone wants to reach you, they will leave a message.
– Identify a trusted person you can talk to about questionable contacts.
– If you receive a phone call, ask for the caller’s contact information and check out the information they give you.
“I never got embarrassed,” said Tom. “I was just so relieved my grandson was OK. We just have to slow things down and talk about what’s going on so that other people don’t have the same problem. I don’t plan on getting scammed again.”
