Scam Preying on 90-Year-Old Uncovered After Missing Person Call

Scammers nearly duped a 90-year-old grandmother out of $1,900 after they convinced her that her grandson was arrested and needed bail money to get out of an Arizona jail. But an alert grocery store clerk spoiled the hustle.

A person pretending to be the grandson asked the Loganville woman to wire the money and to “keep it under her hat,” according to a Gwinnett Police incident report dated Nov. 14.

The grandmother withdrew the money from her bank account and attempted to wire the money via Western Union, but a clerk at a local Kroger refused to send the money and told the woman she was being scammed.

Police said the incident started as a missing persons report from the grandmother’s son, who was worried because she wasn’t home, had recent cataract surgery and hadn’t driven in about five weeks. She left around noon from her Battlement Circle residence; it was around 7 p.m. when police responded to the son’s call.

The son said a woman who identified herself as Sarah Williams called his mother’s home phone while he was searching for her. The son asked her who she was. The woman paused, then said she attended church with the mother and added that the woman was running errands and was OK. She then hung up.

The son used *69 to call the number back and it came back as a Skype Voice Over I.P. and could not be called back.

The grandmother returned home before police could issue a missing person’s alert. She said a woman named Sarah Williams called to say she was a legal aid and that the grandson was in the Maricopa County jail in Phoenix, Ariz. It would take $1,900 to get him out. The grandmother spoke to the bogus grandson before going to the bank. The real grandson was later contacted and he was not in jail.

The clerk at Kroger told the grandmother she needed to speak to her family before sending any money.