‘Granddaughter Needs Bail’ Scam Hits Bremerton Couple
June 9th, 2010 by josh farleySome of you may have heard of a relatively new scam in which the fraudsters attempt to be jailed grandchildren that need bail money in a foreign country.
Unfortunately, this Bremerton couple had not.
And so when they got a call from a woman claiming to be their granddaughter recently, they became immediately concerned. The scammers got her name right and the couple, in their late eighties, even have a grandchild of that name in New York state.
She was jailed in Ontario, Canada, according to the report filed with the Bremerton Police Department, for having been found with a small bag of pot. But a friendly “sergeant” informed them all they needed to do was wire almost $3,000 and she’d be out, with no record given to U.S. authorities.
The bail bondsman was located in Sydney, Australia.
It was all a lie, of course, with many red flags along the way. But they just didn’t know — so they wired the money.
Afterward, they called their real granddaughter, who was fine. And it began to sink in: they’d been scammed. They reported it to police Monday.
Bremerton Police Sgt. Kevin Crane said that not only is the couple embarrassed, but it was money they depended on for retirement.
Tags: Bremerton Police Department, granddaughter jail scam, Kevin Crane
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June 15th, 2010 at 9:07 pm
There is another variation going around on the internet via email and social networks, which often relates to accounts being hacked. That story line is that the person took a weekend, family or business trip to England, was robbed at gun point and now need money to fly home.
I have experience with it after my friend’s account was hacked, although I doubted the person from the beginning.
June 20th, 2010 at 7:40 pm
“And so when they got a call from a woman claiming to be their granddaughter recently…”
I just don’t understand – are people really unable to recognize their own grandkid’s voice? Must not have been a close relationship.
I feel terribly sorry for the grandparents, but good grief. Could they not have tried to call the grandchild at her own phone number, or her parents, or…??? before sending money?
Very sad.
June 25th, 2010 at 7:13 am
KL, you obviously have never been in this position. I wouldn’t be so quick to judge. You have no idea what you’d do in a similar situation. Their being scammed was the result of being caring grandparents and a really convincing scam artist.