Elderly Woman Swindled Out of $50K in 'Grandparent Scam'

Police in San Rafael are investigating a recent incident in which an 83-year-old woman was scammed out of $50,000.

The woman reported the scam on Tuesday and told officers she received a phone call on Sept. 21 from someone claiming to be her grandson, according to police.

The victim said the caller sounded like her grandson and told her he had been arrested in Florida and needed financial help to bail out of jail, police said.

The suspect asked the woman not to tell his parents, because he did not want to get in trouble, police said.

The suspect gave the victim a bank account number in Florida and asked her to wire him $21,000.

The victim sent the money and was contacted again by a suspect on Sept. 23 who claimed to be a police officer and told the victim her grandson needed an additional $29,000 to hire an attorney, according to police.

The suspect gave the victim another bank account, and she wired the money, police said.

When the victim didn’t hear from the suspects again, she realized she had been scammed out of $50,000, and she contacted police.

• Here are tips from the FBI to avoid being taken by the ”Grandparent Scam.”

--Bay City News Service, photo via Shutterstock