Elderly couple loses thousands in grandparent scam as police make arrests
An elderly couple from South Central Pennsylvania lost thousands of dollars to a grandparent scam, coinciding with federal authorities in Boston, Massachusetts, announcing the arrests of suspects accused of running a similar scheme.
Thirteen individuals are now facing charges in what the FBI describes as a sophisticated fraud ring that used the grandparents scam to steal over $5 million from more than 400 senior citizens.
Federal prosecutors revealed that a call center in the Dominican Republic was the base where suspects deceived hundreds of seniors into parting with their life savings.
Images show one suspect posing with a stack of cash and the ringleader relaxing in a pool on a boat.
"This was a highly coordinated criminal operation with a network of runners here in the United States, including in Massachusetts, who actually went to victims' homes to pick up the money," federal authorities said.
Mary Jo McBride shared that her elderly parents in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, were targeted similarly.
After receiving a call claiming to be from their grandson, a car arrived to take them to the bank, where they withdrew a total of $18,000.
It remains unclear if McBride's parents were scammed by the suspects in this case, but the incident highlights the scale of the scam.
A family code word could serve as a protective measure against such scams.
If grandparents receive a call of this nature, they should ask for the code word. If the caller, posing as the grandchild, cannot provide it, it is a clear indication of a scam.