It's pretty bad when family members take advantage of one another or mistreat each other over money issues. But one Michigan Grandmother recently got taken for $15,000 from what she thought was her grandson, when in fact she got double scammed. The person who called her with the request and eventually received the money was not even her grandson. What happened according to the police was that the woman from Troy, MI got a call from the person on Oct. 15, 2020, telling her that he had gotten into an accident and had hired an attorney named “Mark Sanford.”

Her "Grandson" then asked her not to tell his parents and that he would pay her back, on account of losing his wallet and his phone. After speaking to the fake attorney, she transferred $10,258 from her bank to a bank in Mexico. About five days later, the woman was contacted again with the request for more money, which is when she transferred another $5,000, as Local 4 reported. It was only over the holidays when her actual grandson contacted her that she discovered he was never in an accident and that she was scammed.

Scammers have so many ways that they can get you, through email and over the phone. The Federal Trade Commission has offered the following advice in order to keep you protected from getting swindled out of your money:

  • Scammers often pretend to be contacting you on behalf of the government. They might use a real name, like the Social Security Administration, the IRS, or Medicare, or make up a name that sounds official. Don't fall for it.
  • They might say you’re in trouble with the government, you owe money, someone in your family had an emergency, or that there’s a virus on your computer. Some scammers even say there’s a problem with one of your accounts and that you need to verify some information.
  • Scammers want you to act before you have time to think. If you’re on the phone, they might tell you not to hang up so you can’t check out their story. They may even ask you to pay them in a specific way like sending through a transfer company.
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