Scammers recently tried but failed to trick several local people into sending them money, using the ruse of being a grandchild in trouble.
The Dalles Police Detective Sgt. Jamie Carrico wanted to remind the public about scams targeting the elderly.
The recent scam attempts included people pretending to be a grandchild who has been arrested in a foreign country and needs bail money, or they have been in an accident and need to pay the hospital, he said.
Bill Marick of The Dalles told the Chronicle about the scammer who called him. He picked up the phone when it rang, and heard a delay, a click, and then a man came online, “and they said, ‘Oh, Grandpa Bill?’ I said, ‘Could you tell me who is calling me Grandpa Bill?’ And then it ended.”
He said, “It didn’t go far at all, but we suspect it was probably someone who was trying to set up the grandparent scam in some way.” The person sounded like a younger adult, in his 20s or 30s, and did not have a foreign accent.
Because the call ended so quickly, Marick assumes scammers can instantly tell when a phone call will not be fruitful.
Marick, who is retired now, said in his line of work sometimes kids would actually call him Grandpa.
So when the scammer called him that, and he asked who was speaking to him, he was merely trying to say, “I don’t remember everybody, you’re going to have to remind me who you are.”
Carrico said it is easy to learn a fair amount about people, including relatives, from various websites. He entered his own name into one such database, and said, “It’s got my mom, my brother, one of my daughters and my wife.” He got that information for free.
He said the information gives the scammer the names of family members, which enables them to trick people into thinking they are genuine.
Carrico said “education is the best way to make sure we don’t have victims.”
When someone calls claiming they’re your grandchild and they’re in a predicament and need money, Carrico suggested, “Do not engage in conversation because they are fishing for more information. Never give personal information, to include credit card or bank information, over the phone.
“Call a trusted relative to verify any information that they are receiving from the caller.”
Carrico thinks education is working because more people are calling to report an attempted scam, and not that they were a victim of one.
“We like it when they call in to say, ‘Hey, this is what happened, and I didn’t fall for it and I wanted you to know.’”
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