PEORIA -- I received an odd phone call today, July 28, from someone who claimed to be my grandson.
He said "hi grandma, this is your oldest and handsomest grandson."
I responded, "Jack," who is the youngest. He laughed. Wrong name, but it got a laugh.
Then he launched a story -- about how he was spending a few days on vacation in Winnepeg, Canada, had a couple of beers and gotten into an accident in his rental car.
"But you're not old enough to rent a car," I responded.
He hung up.
That's the old 'grandma scam.' It's been operating for years, victimizing gullible seniors. It's on the internet, endlessly.
He never got a chance to ask for money. If he were clever, he could have spun a tale about driving a car his friend had rented. But he didn't.
Just to be sure it wasn't him -- it sounded like him -- I called his mom who assured me that the oldest grandson is alive and well, at home, not in Canada.
Now what? Do I call the cops?
Why bother. They're too busy doing racial profiling, and in Peoria, shooting dogs. (See previous post on this.)
Still, people should be warned.
Don't send money to anyone who asks over the phone. And that includes charities as well as scammers.
-- Elaine Hopkins
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