MOUNT VERNON — In a perverse way, reading about the woman who thought she was helping her grandson by sending money to Canada provided some consolation for another Knox County resident. She, too, was swindled out of money she thought was going to help a family member. In hindsight, she can’t believe she was scammed.
“It’s a terrible, terrible invasion on you, and you try hard to think ‘Where did I slip up? What was there that would have told me?’ But there was nothing,” she said. “They had his first, middle and last name, and they had my whole name, the way I wrote it out. There wasn’t any question.”
The woman, who asked that her identify be withheld, said it happened in December 2008.
“It started out with a call that sounded like my grandson,” she said. “He lives in North Dakota. He said he had gone across the border into Canada for a wedding.”
The caller told her, “Grandma, you know I don’t drink, but I had something in a drink at the wedding.”
The caller told her it was enough alcohol for him to be fined, but if the fine was paid, the police would let him go.
“He had to have the money sent a certain way, and he told me how to send it,” said the woman. “He said it had to be done through Western Union.”
The money also had to be sent within a two-hour time frame, and was to be sent to Vancouver, British Columbia.
“Every 10 minutes while I was trying to get the money, he would call again,” she said. “Again, that many times, I would have told you it was my grandson talking.
“As soon as I sent it out, I called my grandson’s number and said, ‘Did you get the money?’ He said, ‘What money?”
After explaining the story, her grandson said, “Grandma, that wasn’t me.”
The woman said the caller told her not to call her grandson’s parents. That made sense to the woman.
“My reasoning was because of the amount of money they asked for, he would know they wouldn’t be able to get it together in time, and I would,” she said. “It sounded like him. It was plausible.”
The woman made the arrangements for the money to be sent at Wal-Mart, and had a receipt from the transaction. She called the Knox County Sheriff’s Office, and turned over the receipt to a sheriff’s deputy.
Later, other relatives told her a person they knew had also been scammed.
“I got up in my church and said, ‘I have been scammed,’ and wanted them to be aware of it,” she said.
“There wasn’t any question it was my grandson,” she said. “They seem to know my grandson. They seem to know who to target.”
Knox County Sheriff David Barber advises anyone who receives a similar call to ask for a personal identifier, such as a dog’s name, birthdate or mother’s maiden name. They should also ask for a call-back number to verify where the call is originating.
Anyone who receives such a call should call the Knox County Sheriff’s Office at 393-6800.
