EDMOND, Okla. - Carolyn Hitchcock really thought it was her grandson, Landon, on the phone.
“His laugh was just like his, so I was convinced it was him,” she said.
She was so convinced she nearly dipped into her savings and said goodbye to $1,800 cash.
The guy posing as her grandson tried to cash in on Carolyn's emotions, said he was in a bad car accident and caught driving drunk, following a friend's funeral in Florida.
“I said, ‘Oh, are you hurt?’ and he said, ‘I cut my lip, my head and got stitches and I'm in jail and can't get out unless I pay and I don't have it.”
Over the years we've featured countless Oklahoma seniors defrauded by these wire transfer scams.
Thankfully for Carolyn and her husband, the clerk helping them with their wire transfer was alert and able to get them to listen to his warning!
The In Your Corner bottom line:
- Sit down and have a conversation with the seniors in your life
- Make sure they know to ask questions only their grandchild can answer, like the last time they visited or the name of a childhood pet.
- Remember, using a pre-paid debit card or wiring money is just like sending cash. It's almost impossible to trace or get back.
“Ask him what his name is. He didn't say a name,” Carolyn said. “He called me grandma and my grandkids call me granny.”
Carolyn's grandson was in Oklahoma safe and sound the whole time.