Victim Of Grandparent Scam Speaks Out About Being Swindled Of $12,500 In Prince George's

PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY, MD — A nationwide "grandparent scam" has infiltrated Prince George's County. Since Jan. 20, the county police department has received several reports of this scam and in two of those cases, the scammers swindled victims out of thousands of dollars.

In many “grandparent scam” cases, the suspect calls an elderly victim and pretends to be one of the senior's grandchildren who was just involved in a serious accident such as a car crash or was arrested. The person posing as the grandchild gives the victim a phone number for a lawyer and then hangs up. The victim contacts the fake lawyer who attempts to convince them to a pay large amount of cash in order to help the grandchild. The suspect or a co-conspirator then will often go to the victim’s home and pick up the money. In some cases, the phone scammer pretends to be one of the victim’s children, the police department reported.

One Lanham woman in her 70s recently was scammed in this way. She said the scammers are "really, really, really good at what they do." The Prince George's County Police interviewed the woman who was willing to share her story in the hopes of helping others.

The woman who police did not identify in order to protect her said she thought it was her firstborn grandchild. He said he was in a car accident and started crying on the phone, that he didn't want the accident to go on his record. She said he needed to call his parents, but he said he would later. He gave her a phone number for a fake lawyer and the number didn't work, but the attorney then called her back and said her grandson had been injured; he was being held in jail with a bond of $12,500.

"I was so obsessed with helping my grandson, that he not have this on his record, that I went with the flow. I went to the bank, withdrew the money and had an option of having his people come by the house and pick up the bail money. I thought that was a good idea so my grandson would be out of jail. they came by to pick up the funds really quickly because they were in the area," the grandmother said.

When her husband came home, he thought it was a scam. She called the number for the attorney but the umber was disconnected. So she called her grandson directly and it turns out he was fine.

"The only thing you have to say to a grandmother is something is happening to your grandson. That's the only thing you have to say and we're up in arms. You want to protect your family and you lose sight of the intelligence God gave you," she said.

She suggested that anyone contacted to help a grandchild in this manner contact a family member first before parting ways with money or providing private information.

The police department has identified one suspect who recently went to a victim's home to pick up money that was involved in a grandparent scam. If you recognize the suspect in these photos, call the financial crimes unit at 301-516-1464. Callers who want to remain anonymous can call Crime Solvers at 1-866-411-TIPS (8477), o go online at www.pgcrimesolvers.com, or use the “P3 Tips” mobile app search “P3 Tips” in the Apple Store or Google Play to download the app onto a mobile device. Refer to case 22-0005402/22-0003009.