There have been two victims in our area. Mary Valko is friends with both.
"Both women said it sounded just like their grandson. It's really sad," she said.
The woman immediately wired 25-hundred dollars. The man called back several times asking for more, saying he needed money to fix the car, for medical tests. In all, she wired over seven thousand dollars. The amount would have been even more a if a suspicious teller hadn't refused to release 18-hundred dollars.
It's called the grandma scam -- con artists preying on the elderly.
Canadian police say there may be as many as one thousand victims in the U.S. and Canada bilked out of 3.5-million dollars in what's also known as the "It's me scam."
"Because the caller says 'it's me, grandma,'" said Gary Brown of the Dept. of Consumer Protection.
The Yonkers' victim did not want to be identified, but wanted to help others.
For more information, on the net:
http://www.westchestergov.com/consumer_seniorcrimebusters.htm
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