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STATE OF CONNECTICUT Department of Public Safety 1111 Country Club Road Middletown, Connecticut 06457 |
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE January 22, 2010 |
Over the past month it has come to the attention of Connecticut Law Enforcement that four towns have received complaints of a new scam called the “Grandson Scheme."
A suspect will call an elderly victim and pose as the grandson of the elderly victim or the attorney of the elderly victim’s grandson saying the grandson was arrested or in an accident. The “grandson” will say that you have to talk to my attorney or the officer that arrested him. They also tell the elderly victim not to tell mom or dad.
The person posing as the attorney or officer will then request that bail money be sent and request that the money be wired via Money Gram or Western Union because there is one across the street from the courthouse in Canada. The caller will say that the grandson says that there is a Money Gram or Western Union site at a certain location in the town (or a neighboring town) where the elderly victim resides. (Wal-Mart in some cases). Because of this, it is believed there are local people involved. Why the money goes to a Canadian address is unknown at the time. In one case, the money was sent to Manchester, England.
After wiring the money, the attorney calls the elderly grandparents for the reference number of the transfer and tells them that the grandson will call them at a certain time when he is released. When the grandparents do not hear from anyone they call the grandson or parents and find out it was bogus.
Some Connecticut towns have cases regarding this type of scam and Connecticut State and Local Police are urging citizens to investigate these calls fully and phone the Police directly before taking any action.
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