GuelphToday received the following letter about the ongoing issue of grandparent scams.
Another attempted scam.
I just received a phone call from a person purporting to be my grandson. Long story.
Arrested after a police stop for a motor vehicle accident. A vehicle search conducted by the police showed several outstanding tickets attributable to the owner of the vehicle which then alerted the police to search the vehicle.
A large amount of marijuana was found in the trunk.
“You know Gramma, I would never be involved in anything like that!” This was my first alert that this was a scam.
The call went on and on. He needed $10,000 to get out of jail before the weekend.
I asked him what his Dad had to say about the situation and he told me he would tell his Dad after I paid the money for his bail.
I reiterated that I would call his Dad first and that he could call me back in a half hour with my decision. He hung up.
I write because I have read about grandparents paying money to these criminals and wondered how on earth they were caught in this scam.
I now know how skilled these criminals are in spinning their story out to an unsuspecting Gramma.
Rather than paying the money, call another family member, call your grandchild.
Marie Downey
