ROCHESTER, N.Y. The New York State Police have an assignment for you.
If you have a grandparent or great-grandparent in your life, talk to them about a new, more dangerous twist to the grandparents’ scam. The old scam is a phone call to a grandparent saying they need to send money immediately to get their grandchild out of trouble.
The scammer tells them to buy a gift card and read the numbers to them on the phone. That’s how they get the money. Now, police say the scam sends bad actors directly to the grandparents’ home.
“The first thing, when you say ‘hello,’ they say ‘grandma,’” Mickey Culhane said.
At her home in Greece, Culhane says she’s been targeted by the grandparents’ scam three times in the last six months. She has 10 grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren, but she knows the callers are up to no good.
Brean: “You don’t fall for these scams.”
Mickey Culhane: “No.”
Brean: “But some people do.”
Culhane: “That’s the big problem. That’s the worry I have.”
This week, New York State Trooper Mark O’Donnell called us because the police want you to know about a change in the scammers’ tactic. Instead of relying on gift card numbers, sometimes they send couriers to the victims’ homes to get the money in person.
Brean: “These couriers, are they in on the scam?”
Trooper Mark O’Donnell, NYSP: “Yes they are. They’re in on the scam. They drive a vehicle and they usually park the vehicle a little ways away from the…
