Burns resident received call that granddaughter was in trouble and in need of money

By Randy Parks
Burns Times-Herald

The elderly are known to be targets of con artists and one of their more popular ploys for the past few years is known as the “Grandparents Scam.”

The scam involves a phone call to a grandparent from a person who identifies themself as a grandchild who has gotten into some sort of trouble and needs money to help them out.

Playing on the heartstrings of grandparents has resulted in the victims being scammed out of thousands of dollars, and it almost happened to a Harney County resident.

On the morning of Sept. 17, Carol Sawyer of Burns received a phone call from a female who identified herself as Sawyer’s granddaughter, Desi, who lives in Portland. “She told me she and a friend had flown to Vancouver (Canada) and rented a Budget car,” Sawyer said. “Then she said they were driving down the freeway, hit the median and crashed. She said they were OK, but they were at the police station and the police wouldn’t allow them to return to the U.S. until they paid $5,000 for damage to the vehicle.”

Sawyer said she detected a slight accent in the caller’s voice, but when asked about it, the Desi impersonator said it was probably because she was shook up from the accident. “And she said, ‘You’re the only one that can help me with this,’ ” Sawyer said.

The caller then handed the phone over to an “Officer McKinley,” who confirmed, “We won’t release her until we get $5,000.”

Sawyer said she was then instructed to wire the money  to an address she was given. After telling the presumed officer $5,000 was a lot of money, Sawyer asked if she could get a reduced amount. “They said I could pay half now, and they would let Desi come back to the U.S. with a promissory note for the other half,” Sawyer said.

Sawyer then went to the bank, withdrew the amount needed and headed to Safeway to send the money via Western Union. “Kat (Pentecost) at Safeway handled the transaction and she was extremely helpful,” Sawyer said. “She told me she couldn’t find a Budget Rent-A-Car in Vancouver, but we went ahead and wired the money to the address I was given.”

Sawyer said she then returned home, but was bothered by, “the whole thing.” To satisfy the nagging feeling that something wasn’t right, Sawyer then called her granddaughter’s number in Portland, but no one answered.

Just minutes later, Sawyer’s phone rang and it was Desi on the line, wanting to know why she had called. Sawyer asked her if she was in Canada and Desi replied, “In Canada? No, I’ve never been to Canada. I’m at home getting ready to go to work.”

Realizing she was a victim of a scam, Sawyer immediately called Pentecost at Safeway. “Kat told me the money had been sent, but not picked up yet, so she was able to get it back for me,” Sawyer said. “Kat was very instrumental in getting the money back for me, and I’m very grateful.”

While Sawyer’s story had a somewhat happy ending, others aren’t so fortunate. according to the Web site Scambusters.org, “scammers have bilked the elderly out of hundreds — or thousands — of dollars by posing as their ‘needy’ grandchildren.

Officials say that oftentimes the caller will say something like, “This is your favorite grandson,” only to have the grandparent answer with, “Arnold?” which provides the scammer with a name.

Their recommendation to expose the fraud is to not fill in any “blanks” for the scammer. For example:

“Do you know who this is?”

“No, I don’t. Who is this?”

“It’s your granddaughter.”

“Really? Which one?”

Sawyer said the scammer who called her already had the name of her granddaughter, as well as the name of her great-grandson, and just wants people to be aware of the scam. “If my story helps even one person from losing money, it’ll be worth getting the word out,” she said.