We had been expecting the call. We had heard from friends and been forewarned with TV alerts that it was likely to come. Still, it was a bit of a surprise when Al answered a local call to hear, “This is your oldest grandson.” Al interrupted before he got to, “I’m in jail, and I need money to get out.”
Ever the quick thinker, Al asked, “What is your name?” The caller hung up. Perhaps the second part of the call never was going to happen, but Al had been informed, and he wasn’t planning on handing out bail money.
Now, there we had several clues here. The adult oldest grandson lives in Hawaii so it’s not a local number. But the biggest clue resides in how likely it is that this grandson would wind up in jail. You could accuse him of eating more than his share of the biscuits, and his younger brother would testify against him. He could be convicted of being the first grandchild to outdraw his grandmother with a credit card and pay for her lunch. You could charge him with making beautiful art work and make it stick. None of those would put him in jail in need of bailing out.
It’s pretty amazing how clever the scammers have become, yet how dense they can be at the same time. They are smart enough to know that grandparents will do almost anything in their power to help their grandchildren. Still, knowing the said grandchild’s name before making the call seems like a no-brainer.
In any case, for our grandchildren, this is a word to the wise. If you want your grandpa to fork over money to get you out of jail, you need to at least know what your name is.