BENSON – An elderly Benson man fell victim to the Grandparent scam.
Last week, the 81 year-old man said he received a phone call from a person who claimed it was his grandson. The caller stated he had caused an accident while texting and driving and needed money to post bail and pay for a lawyer.
The imposter said he would have his lawyer call back.
Another scammer called pretending to be an attorney and requested $8,000 towards his grandson’s bail. The victim withdrew the cash from the bank and placed the money in an envelope outside his home. A short time later someone picked up the envelope and left.
Shortly thereafter, the scammer called back saying he needed an additional $9,000. The victim withdrew more cash from his bank and placed it in an another envelope outside his home. Once again, a person picked up the envelope and left.
The senior citizen later realized his grandson had not been in a traffic accident and he had been scammed out of $17,000.
The Johnston County Sheriff’s Office is investigating.
This man needs to move immediately. Those criminals know where he lives and most probably will come back. Most grandparent scammers are in the Dominican Republic. They use money mules to move the money. They are relentless and dangerous. Whoever knows this man, please help him relocate as fast as possible.
Are you saying a lawyer told you to withdraw money and place it in an envelope outside your house for someone to come and pick it up? Twice?? Really!!!
A fool and his money….
Common Sence, I hate to say it, but I have to agree with you. If this guy is mentally that bad off, then he needs to live with a family member or a home and again I hate to say that.
It’s heartbreaking how often victims are blamed instead of supported. Having experienced this myself, I know firsthand how damaging it can be—mentally and emotionally. The weight of being blamed for something beyond my control was unbearable. We need to stop victim-blaming and start standing up for those who have already suffered enough!
Absolutely 100%. So sorry you were a target of criminals and Thank You for speaking truth.
The scammers will not stop until EVERYBODY stops falling for their scams. Please talk to your older relatives about not believing anything having to do with anything monetary. Tell them to always think rationally and never let anyone pressure them into anything. If this man had just called his grandson’s phone, he would’ve found out it wasn’t true.
It’s impossible to describe how it feels to be scammed until it happens to you. I didn’t think it could happen to me, but it did.
Did anyone read the fact that he was 81 yrs. old? The ones hollering common sense obviously have no experience with the elderly! It’s easy to con the elderly bc allot of times the older they get more often than not their minds start reverting back to that of a child so this “common sense” u speak of is most often less than what a younger persons would be… Not to mention he was probably scared to death for his grandson.. I don’t care what the situation is or how it happened it was NOT his fault!