Grandparent Scam Reported In South Louisiana

As kids, we learn early, if Mom and Dad say "no"  then you go to Grandma and Grandpa and that's where you can usually get a "yes". It's that deep affection that grandparents have for their grandchildren that is putting many of our older citizens at risk. That risk is called The Grandparent Scam.

It works like this, a caller tells a potential victim that their grandchild has been injured in an accident or has been arrested and they need money to get them out of trouble. Or even worse the caller claims to be the grandchild and tells a similar sad story.

The bad guys then suggest to the potential victim that they can provide funding to help their grandchild by wiring cash or purchasing gift cards and then providing the scammer with details on how to claim the money.

A Lake Charles man was recently contacted by such a scammer and he paid attention to the red flags and notified authorities.

The bottom line is this, scammers love to prey on our older citizens because they are more trusting. If you have an older member of your family you might want to share this article with them and remind them that no official police organization or government agency wants to be paid with gift cards.

However, scammers love gift cards because once they have all the information including the PIN and Security code, then your money is gone and won't likely be recovered.

Should you receive such a call get the phone number off of your Caller ID and then hang up the phone. You can then report that phone number and the call to the Louisiana Attorney General's Office. They have a fraud unit that loves to bust bad guys.