{"id":13223,"date":"2021-09-12T09:00:23","date_gmt":"2021-09-12T16:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/socialcatfish.com\/blog\/?p=13223"},"modified":"2021-08-24T16:38:17","modified_gmt":"2021-08-24T23:38:17","slug":"grandparents-day-watch-out-for-grandparent-scams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.socialcatfish.cloud\/scamfish\/grandparents-day-watch-out-for-grandparent-scams\/","title":{"rendered":"Grandparents Day: Watch Out For Grandparent Scams"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today is Grandparents Day where we honor our grandparents and celebrate the special bond they have with their grandchildren. However, scammers take advantage<\/a> of this special day by creating a devious scam that would fool anyone. These scammers will go as far as to stalk the social media accounts<\/a> of these grandparents and grandchildren to figure out more information about them. They then take this information and pretend to be the grandchild, then call their grandparent to scam them out of money. Keep reading to find out how grandparent scams work and how to avoid them.<\/p>\n

How Often Do Grandparent Scams Happen?<\/h2>\n[aesop_image img=”https:\/\/socialcatfish.com\/scamfish\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/pexels-cottonbro-6848407-scaled.jpg” panorama=”off” imgwidth=”100%” align=”center” lightbox=”off” captionsrc=”custom” captionposition=”center” revealfx=”off” overlay_revealfx=”off”]\n

Grandparent scams happen more often than you might think. According to AARP<\/a>, there have been 91,000 cases of a scammer pretending to be a friend or loved one from the years 2015 through the first quarter of 2020. There was even an instance where law enforcement<\/a> caught a scammer in action. This New York City man was charged with scamming many grandparents out of their money across the state of New Jersey and made thousands of dollars doing this in May of 2020.<\/p>\n

According to the FCC<\/a>, a scammer pretended to be someone’s grandchild and called their grandparents claiming that they got into a serious accident in Western New York State. The scammer asked the grandparents to post bond so that they could be released, then another scammer pretended to be their attorney and claimed to need $15,000 in cash! These scammers then use rideshare companies<\/a> to go to the grandparents and steal their cash.<\/p>\n

How Do Grandparent Scams Work?<\/h2>\n[aesop_image img=”https:\/\/socialcatfish.com\/scamfish\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/pexels-cottonbro-4034037-scaled.jpg” panorama=”off” imgwidth=”100%” align=”center” lightbox=”off” captionsrc=”custom” captionposition=”center” revealfx=”off” overlay_revealfx=”off”]\n

Grandparent scams happen when a scammer impersonates a grandchild and calls the grandparent claiming they are in trouble. They can also message the grandparent via email<\/a> or instant message,<\/a> and there have also been instances where they come to your door according to the FTC.<\/a> They use deepfake cloning<\/a> to make their voice sound like the grandchild so that the grandparents don’t suspect anything. They claim that they need money in order to get out of a terrible situation and beg their grandparents to help them.<\/p>\n

The grandparents become scared and know that they are willing to do anything for their grandchildren. Therefore, they send the money<\/a> to the scammer thinking that they’re helping their grandchild. However, once the grandparents send the money, the scammer demands more money as their grandchild in order to get out of danger. The scammer’s tactics leave the grandparents’ bank account drained as they realize that it was all a scam.<\/p>\n

Signs of a Grandparent Scam<\/h2>\n[aesop_image img=”https:\/\/socialcatfish.com\/scamfish\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/pexels-mart-production-7330749-scaled.jpg” panorama=”off” imgwidth=”100%” align=”center” lightbox=”off” captionsrc=”custom” captionposition=”center” revealfx=”off” overlay_revealfx=”off”]\n