Steinbach grandmother outsmarts scammers

A grandmother from Steinbach says this week she was nearly a victim of the Grandparent Scam.

The woman, who asked to stay anonymous, says that on Thursday she received a phone call on her landline from a private number. When she answered the phone, there was a voice on the other end that sounded exactly like her grandson. She says the caller told her that he had been in a crash and that police had found drugs in his buddy's truck. The caller said he was now at the Winnipeg Remand Centre and needed $8,003 in order to post bail. He said his lawyer assured him that the money would be returned on Monday.

"I was on the phone probably for about three or four minutes absolutely positive I was talking to my grandson," the woman says. "When he started repeating the story, that's when I started getting suspicious that this might not be authentic."

The woman says the caller kept repeating the name of the drug found in his buddy's truck. He also named two friends whom she had never heard of. In addition to that, the caller said the accident happened in Winnipeg, yet the woman knew that her grandson does not live in Winnipeg. She says all of this combined to make her suspicious. 

The caller said he could not talk long because he had a limited amount of time to use the phone. However, he said that because he tested negative for drugs, the bail money would be returned to him.

"When we said out loud in the background that I'm going to call his cell to see if it is my grandson, that's when the person hung up," she recalls. 

The Steinbach grandmother says the caller hung up before ever clarifying how she was supposed to get the $8,003 to her grandson. Yet, she says she would have driven to Winnipeg and personally handed the money to the lawyer if need be. 

The woman says it is easy to see how people are falling victim to this scam. 

"This person had the same voice and sentence structure as my grandson," she points out. "I was convinced it was him right from the get-go."

She notes the caller asked if they could keep this incident a secret from his father. 

The woman says after the caller hung up; she called her grandson who confirmed that it was a fraudulent call. She finds it upsetting how close she came to nearly being scammed, noting she does not have that kind of money lying around. 

"I do wonder, where do they get these phone numbers from, how do they know of the dynamics of the family connection?" she asks. "It's scary, you've got to be on the lookout."

Her message to others is simply to hang up if you receive such a phone call, noting if it is a true emergency somebody else from your family will probably call back. 

"These fraudsters are so on the ball, they can take us for a ride anytime they want," she says. "So just hang up."

The anonymous woman from Steinbach says she has already contacted police to relay her story.