"Hello, grandma? I need your help."
This was how the conversation started between my mom and the person she thought was her grandson - my nephew.
The caller reported being in a fight at a bar and spending the night in jail. He claimed to need $900 in order to make an assault charge "go away."
He then begged my mom not to say anything to his parents because, after all, this was already embarrassing enough. Besides, he planned to pay back the money.
He then handed the phone to the legal aid lawyer facilitating this fishy money transfer, and the young barrister was more than happy to discuss the pertinent details with his client's grandmother.
If our criminal justice system really worked this way, jails would be filled with the poor and disenfranchised while the rich ruled the world. OK, never mind.
So anyway, traits I found annoying in my mom as a child - her steady skepticism and diligent scrutiny of all loan requests, especially those from blood relatives - served her well last week, when she foiled this bold phone fraudster. Instead of transferring the cash as requested, she phoned me, and I told her to invite my nephew to call me from his barren cell.
He never called.
And when we caught up with my actual nephew later that day, we learned he wasn't in jail, but at work. He was also justifiably insulted - mortified more accurately - that we would entertain for even three seconds the notion he could be capable of such a cold and calculated crime.
Police and fraud-busters call this the grandson scam: a distraught young man calls his elderly grandmother begging for cash to get him out of a jam. His voice is usually strained to disguise the fact he isn't who he says he is, and he's able to elicit just enough personal information out of grandma to carry on a familiar conversation.
The latest twist, which began surfacing last fall, introduces the lawyer character, presumably to add credibility to the grandson's plight.
While my mom survived the grandson scam unscathed, others have lost considerable riches both financially and psychologically. Last fall, Nanaimo RCMP reported local seniors being swindled out of $3,500, $7,000 and $24,000 by individuals posing as grandsons.
Often lonely and vulnerable, seniors are considered easy marks. They also tend to have more money and less debt, with chronic health issues or diminished faculties, making them severely dependent on others. Seniors who fall for the fraud may never know they were conned, and those who do may be too embarrassed to report it to anyone.
In my mom's case, we reported it to the administration of her housing complex, and a warning was posted in the elevators and other common areas so her elderly neighbours wouldn't become targets. Family members also play a role, and if you have an older relative who could be susceptible to this type of fraud and other scams, ensure they have the tools to protect themselves. That could mean making them aware of the various cons, or simply encouraging them to contact someone they trust before agreeing to any sort of cash exchange, even if they have been told not to.
Another resource is the B.C. Centre for Elder Advocacy and Support. Visit them online at bcceas.ca or call the information line at 604-437-1940.
