Seniors in Winnipeg and Brandon are being warned to be careful as police say they’ve seen a recent increase in what are commonly referred to as “grandparent scams.”
That includes more than a dozen reports in less than a week in the provincial capital, with an estimated $100,000 in losses.
In grandparent scams, a person calls an older person claiming to be a grandchild or other relative who has serious legal problems and needs money immediately, Winnipeg Police Service Statute. That’s what Jay Murray said at a press conference on Thursday.
“We believe these scams are being perpetrated by organized groups. They are not overnight operations. There is an increase in calls here in Winnipeg,” he said.
Scams are on the rise and other parts of the province and Canada are also affected, he said.
In the past six days, there have been 15 reports of grandparent or emergency scams in Winnipeg, Murray said.
The caller sounded desperate and even cried, he said. The person will sometimes use a small name and say the request is urgent.
Sometimes they say a judge has issued a gag order so they can’t discuss the matter with anyone, including other family members or their bank.
Winnipeg Police Constable Jay Murray is urging anyone affected by grandparent scams to report it. (CBC)
Sometimes the phone is passed to another actor who claims to be a lawyer and can appear to be very professional.
Instructions are given to the victim to inform the bank that the money will be used for home repairs or something similar.
Victims who respond by receiving money are told a bond officer will visit their home to collect the money.
The amount of money scammers ask for varies from person to person—it can be hundreds or thousands of dollars.
“The cheater will probably just get a feel for how the conversation is going. If they think they’re going to succeed, they may be inclined to ask for more,” Murray said.
If the scam is successful, the person may try to get more money from the victim in the following days.
Outsmarting cheaters
Brandon police also issued an alert Wednesday on Twitter about grandparent scams.
Kelly Anderson, who lives in Souris, southwest of Brandon, said her husband, Gerald, almost fell victim to a grandparent scam Wednesday morning.
A young man called them and said “Hi, Grandpa,” but didn’t give his name and ended up tricking Gerald into saying his grandson’s name, Anderson said.
“He told my husband he was in an accident in Brandon, the airbags deployed and he hit a pregnant woman and he’s facing two charges and he needs $9,000 to get him out,” she told CBC News in Thursday.
THE GRANDPARENT SCAM is happening again in Brandon.
Please talk to your friends and family about this, they may not know. pic.twitter.com/pi2znWRGX1
—@BrandonPolice
When Anderson’s husband asked the person he thought was his 14-year-old grandson why he hadn’t contacted his mother or father, the caller had no answer.
Eventually, the scammer called and asked if the couple could come up with less. At that point, Anderson’s husband said he would call his grandson’s father and the man hung up.
Anderson posted a message on Facebook to warn people in her friend group about the scam.
“There are so many seniors in this community who would believe a call like that,” she said.
But Winnipegger Leonard Bakalinski, 89, outsmarted one of the scammers a few months ago.
He got a call around 7:30 one morning from a man who was sobbing and said, “grandpa!”
This caused concern for Bakalinski — his grandchildren call him zaide, a Yiddish word for “grandfather.”
Leonard Bakalinski, 89, was the target of a scammer. He says he knew something was wrong when the caller called him “grandpa” while his real grandchildren called him by the Yiddish word “zayde.” (Trevor Bryan/CBC)
The scammer forces him to say one of his grandson’s names – Daniel – and then assumes that identity.
Like the call Anderson received, the scammer said he had been in a car accident and needed money to get out of trouble. The real Daniel usually drives to work at this time of day, so Bakalinski was concerned.
But things took a turn when he told the caller he was going to call Danielle’s mother before sending money.
“That’s when things cooled off,” Bakalinski said. The caller objected and eventually hung up.
Bakalinski advises any other grandparents who think they’ve been scammed to do what he and Anderson did — tell the caller they’ll contact the child’s parents first.
Warning signs
Murray said it’s important to know a few things to prevent these scams.
First, the police and courts never send someone to a person’s home to collect money. Also, you will never be told to lie to the bank about why you are withdrawing money.
Scammers will pressure people to act quickly before they have time to think about what they are doing or agreeing to. It’s important to talk to someone you trust before giving out any personal information or money, especially if the call is unsolicited.
Police are urging people to talk to their elderly relatives about the scam to protect them.
Murray is asking anyone who is the victim of a suspected grandparent scam to report it to police.
“It can be very embarrassing when someone finds out they’ve been scammed,” he said. “The reality is that many people fall for scams every day, unfortunately. It’s nothing to be ashamed of.”
Reporting a scam can eventually help recover lost money and can help prevent others from falling victim, he said.
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