Two Johnston County residents are the latest victims of the Grandparents and IRS scams.
A 90 year-old Clayton woman lost $7,000 last week in the Grandparents Scam. The elderly woman said she received a phone call from a person pretending to be her grandson. The caller claimed he had been arrested by police in Florida on a marijuana charge and needed the money to get out of jail. He claimed it was important his parents didn’t find out and not to tell anyone.
The grandmother said her grandson didn’t sound like himself on the telephone. The scammer again stated it was her grandson and that he may sound different because he was getting over a cold.
The elderly woman send $7,000 in cash to the person she thought was her grandson. She later realized her grandson was okay and she had been scammed by someone posing as him.
In a second and unrelated scam, a 36 year-old Smithfield woman said she lost $3,000 in an IRS scam. The victim said she was at home Friday and received a call from a person claiming to be an agent with the IRS. The caller claimed a warrant had been issued for her arrest for not paying for her taxes and gave a case number of the victims pending lawsuit. To avoid the lawsuit and arrest, the scammer said she needed to provide $3,000 in Google and iTune cards.
The victim went to several Smithfield area stores to obtain the pre-paid cards and when the scammer called her again she gave him the card numbers. She later realized she had been scammed and called authorities.
Authorities say both scams are very widespread. Unfortunately it doesn’t appear either victim will be able to recover their lost money.
