GRAND RAPIDS, Michigan — Troopers from the Michigan State Police (MSP) Paw Paw post are warning citizens about an uptick in fraudulent activity involving “grandparent” targeted scams in southwest Michigan.
Reports of this same type of scam have been made recently in Sault Ste. Marie and Grand Rapids area.
Last week a Van Buren couple received a phone call from someone who they believed to be their granddaughter. This person, who was later determined to be someone impersonating their granddaughter, advised them she had been arrested following a traffic accident. The female impersonator indicated they needed to contact her friend’s father who is a lawyer.
The couple complied and contacted this so-called lawyer who, in-turn, advised them their granddaughter was in serious trouble and they would need $12,000 to bail her out. After agreeing to pay the said amount of bail in cash, the lawyer stated he would send a courier to their house to pick up the money.
The next day the so-called lawyer called the couple back and stated there was an issue and now they would need to pay an additional $14,000 to help their granddaughter but this attempt was thwarted once their actual granddaughter stopped by their house and explained to them they had been scammed.
MSP would like to remind citizens to contact law enforcement prior to acting on or sending any money if you ever feel you are being scammed either by phone, email, or other methods. Additionally, if you believe you are being targeted please remember to record as much of the caller’s information as possible.
If you receive phone calls, emails or some other form of communication in which the caller is claiming they are from the Treasury Department and/or who is offering COVID stimulus payments or some form of a grant in exchange for your personal information or they require you to purchase gift cards to obtain money, consider this a scam and hang up and report it to law enforcement or the FBI at www.ic3.gov.
All suspected fraudulent activity can be reported to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) online at https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0208-phone-scams.
If you have lost money to a phone scam or have information about the company or scammer who called you, report it to ftc.gov/complaint. If you did not lose money and just feel you should report a scam, you can use their streamlined reporting form at donotcall.gov.
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