Letter: Phone Scam

Editor, The Friday Flyer

I may not be the only Canyon Laker to have received a bogus phone call claiming a grandchild or other family member has been arrested and needs money immediately to resolve the problem, but it was a first for me.

The phone rang the other morning and a voice said, “Grandpa, this is (voice named a grandchild) and I have been arrested.” His voice was deep and gravelly and he quickly said he had a cold. “Please copy my file number and a public defender will call you right back to explain. Please, hurry.” Then the voice was gone.

I had put the call on speakerphone; it rang and a female voice claimed my grandson was in jail and needed — this is where I intervened and asked where was he in jail. Hesitation, then the voice said, “New Joisy.”

As this was happening, another grandson here with me handed me his cell phone and I spoke to my so-called victim grandson who was in his room at college many states away from “New Joisy.”

This is an increasing criminal act that targets elderly persons living alone. How these bandits had my name, phone number, age and name of my grandson is not surprising given the free distribution of our personal lives across the internet. Just beware. Newly arrested people are not provided with complex file numbers and their own public defender. Oh, and my grandkids don’t call me grandpa.

Ken Cable