“He called me back at about 10 after 2, very apologetic,” the grandmother said. Now, the grandmother was being told her grandson missed his plane, couldn’t transfer the ticket and needed $2,875 to book the 8 p.m. flight for home.
“I even asked, ‘Can I put a ticket on my credit card? He told me, “No, it’s an airline out of Peru and they only take debit or cash,’” she said.
Before hanging up, she asked Sgt. Williams to pass along a message to her grandson.
“Tell him this is the last money he is getting. I don’t have any more money to send him,” she said.
The grandmother called her daughter again. Off they went to make a third transfer, only this time they went to Acme.
“Are you sure it was him?” the daughter again asked her mother during the ride, this time a bit more forcefully.
The grandmother was surprised to find a different transfer procedure at the Acme than at Wal-Mart. All the years she’d shopped at the market on Morton Avenue, she never once noticed a red phone that she was directed to use to begin the wire-transfer process. But like Wal-Mart, the process took only a couple minutes before she was on her way back home. (At both Wal-Mart and Acme, the woman said employees asked if she was sure about the transaction, and if she knew who she was sending the money to.)
By this point, the township woman said she was so upset by the events of the last two days that her daughter wanted to take her to see a doctor. She declined.
“I said, “No, I will be OK once (her grandson) gets home,’” she said.
The township woman said before her daughter dropped her off, she suggested she give her grandson a call.
After providing the reference number for the last transaction, the township grandmother decided it was time her grandson’s wife knew what was going on, if she didn’t already. But first, the grandmother called her grandson’s cell. No answer.
“Then I called his home and got no answer,” the grandmother said.
When she got a call a while later and it came up showing her grandson’s cell number, she was afraid to answer it. She called her daughter who, in turn, called her cousin.
When her cousin answered the phone and told her he was at work — not out of the country — she knew her mom had been scammed.
The township woman’s grandson called her almost immediately.
“He was upset,” she said.
Between the three transfers and service fees, the township woman figured out she’d been taken for $8,301.50. At first, she wanted to keep it to herself.
The following Thursday she went about her normal routine. When she returned home to find 13 blocked calls, she decided to contact township police. She filed a report Friday, Jan. 11. She also contacted the FBI.
Dead-end police cases
According to Ridley Township Police Lt. Scott Willoughby, it’s not unusual for victims of scams to remain silent, primarily out of embarrassment.
“It’s gut-wrenching that this is going on,” he said of such scams, which he described as crimes of both opportunity and vulnerability.
In addition to granny scam case, township detectives recently investigated another type of con, this one targeting a PECO customer.
In that case, a caller posing as a PECO employee threatened to shut off the 62-year-old woman’s power if she didn’t make immediate payment on a past due bill.
“Crimes against these seniors, it is a sin,” Willoughby said. “What we need to do and we have to be very clear about this, is make people aware not to do these things people are asking them to do.”
Especially nowadays, with information so readily available online, Willoughby said people need to be more vigilant.
As for the scammers, Willoughby said, “Their job is to steal form others and they are very good at it.”
Over the years, Willoughby said he’s seen victims of scams lose their entire savings. Once the police report is filed, Willoughby said there is little else investigators can do.
“When you wire money overseas, it is overseas,” he said. “The long arm of the law only goes so far.”
Help for victimized seniors
On Friday, the township woman said she received news from the county’s Senior Victim Services agency that she appeared eligible to recoup a portion of her losses.
According to Lori Holcombe, qualified victims can be reimbursed a total of up to one month’s income through the Victim’s Compensation Assistance Program. Those who qualify receive monthly benefits including Social Security, disability, pension or a combination.
Holcombe, a certified victim advocate with the agency for seven years, said seniors who receive benefits usually bank the money. When money taken from a bank account is used as part of a scam, “It is considered stolen benefit cash and that is what is being replaced,” she said.
In 2012, the agency assisted nine granny scam victims.
“It’s a very common scam, but so many go unreported out of embarrassment,” Holcombe said.
For help or information, call Senior Victim Services at 610-627-2292, or send an email to seniorvictims@verizon.net.
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