The fraud and scam business is increasing in Georgia.Many types of scams are showing up on the Internet or by the telephone which is more personal. Some have been around for a long time and some appear to be new.
An old scam that has resurfaced lately, which is aided by information from the Internet, is the grandmother, grandfather scam. Typically the grandparent's home telephone rings and a person who represents himself as a police officer, or an officer of the court, will ask for the grandparent by name. They know the grandson's name, and they use his name to say to the grandparent, that their grandson has been injured in an auto accident. He has been arrested and placed in jail for DUI.
The person calling may also say, that they represent an attorney or a bond in company.
They will request a certain amount of money for bond, to get the release of the grandson. The bond must be received within a short period of time, or the grandson will be shipped off to the large detention center.
The person calling will demand several things.
(1) A certain amount of money usually several thousand dollars, to be sent for some type of bail company.
(2) The funds must be wired quickly to a receiving center, before time runs out.
(3) There is a reason given, for the fact that the receiving center is located outside the USA.
Of course this is a scam, a fraud, and any reasonable person looking at it would be suspicious of it.
Grandparents are usually called, because they may be less aware of the location of their grandchildren.
The facts of the scams are presented in a way to frighten and panic the grandparents, so they may act quickly because of the urgency of the matter. If the grandparents are given time to think out through this situation, they would soon realize that something is wrong.
However if a grandchild is injured and in jeopardy, we tend to lose all reasonable thinking.
Things to remember about this type of situations.
(1) No legitimate person of authority with our government will call demanding money to be wired to a number. This is true for the police, the court system, and the IRS.
If you get this type of call hang up immediately. The longer you are kept on the phone, the more vulnerable you become.
