Two Elderly Victims of New Grandparents Scam Reported in Hart County

We told you this week about a new twist to an old scam that targets grandparents.

Now, the Hart County Sheriff’s office reports two senior citizens have been the victims of the new, updated version of the grandparent scam.

Hart County Sheriff Mike Cleveland said two suspects from New York were arrested on September 9 in Hall County on multiple theft by taking charges and face similar charges in Hart County.

According to the Sheriff, Clifford Jamal Davis and Brandon A. Massey bilked the two elderly victims out $29,000.

Attorney General Chris Carr is warning the elderly about the grandparent scam and the new twist.

He said the scam still starts with a phone call from someone pretending to be your grandchild, one of their friends, a lawyer, or a law enforcement officer.

The caller then describes an urgent scenario requiring that thousands of dollars be sent immediately, e.g. your grandchild will go to jail if you don’t send bail money or he or she became ill while traveling in a foreign country and needs money to come home

In a new twist, rather than asking the victim to wire money, pay with gift cards, or even mail cash, (all red flags of a scam), the scammers say they will send someone to the person’s house to pick up the money.

And that’s what happened in the cases of the two senior citizens in Hart County.

Cleveland said a courier went to the victims’ homes and picked up the money in person – taking approximately $11,000 from one victim and $18,000 from another.

The victims were able to give a general description of the vehicle and an alert was put out.

Hart County Investigator Chris Carroll told the Hartwell Sun his office was contacted by Walton County where the scammers had stolen from more victims there.

According to Carroll, the arrests came when a bank teller alerted an elderly customer of the scam as she tried to withdraw a large sum of money.

Hall County law enforcement went to the woman’s home and arrested the pair when they showed up to collect the money.
And again, the Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division offers the following tips to protect yourself from this scam:

If you receive a phone call of this nature, get off the phone and call your grandchild directly to verify his/her whereabouts. If you can’t reach your grandchild, contact the parents – even if you were asked not to do so.

Remember that a scammer can discover many personal details about someone via social media or through identity theft, so do not trust a caller at face value, even if they provide the name or certain details about your grandchild.

Limit what you share on social media and check your privacy settings.

And never give your address, personal information or money to someone who calls you out of the blue.