The Washington County sheriff’s office is warning residents about the “grandparent scam,” in which cons persuade their victims to give money or send money orders to get a relative out of jail.
A 79-year-old Afton woman was recently scammed out of $57,000 when a man — who identified himself as an employee of a bail bond company — called to say her grandchild had been apprehended and needed money for bail, officials said.
The man called her three times Dec. 4, and each time the woman went to a Wells Fargo Bank and withdrew $18,000 to $20,000 in cash, said Det. Cooper Valesano of the Washington County Sheriff’s Office. The woman went to three Wells Fargo branches per the scammers’ directions, Valesano said.
Investigators believe one of the scammers went to the woman’s house or had a courier come to the house to collect the cash. “They were on the phone with the woman, and they knew when the car was arriving in her driveway,” Valesano said.
According to Valesano, the woman began to think more about it and realized it was probably a scam. She called police after the third transaction.
On Dec. 3, an 81-year-old May Township man was scammed by a caller who convinced the man that his grandchild was in jail and needed $18,000 to get out. Again in that case, a man came to the victim’s house to collect.
When the scammers contacted the man again last week and said they needed another $18,000 to bail the grandchild out of jail, the man realized he had been scammed and contacted the sheriff’s office, Valesano said.
The two cases are believed to be related based on “patterns and commonalities,” he said. Similar cons, believed to have been perpetrated by the same group of scammers, were recently reported in Goodhue and Anoka counties, he said.
No suspects have been identified.
“It seems to be a pretty sophisticated operation,” Valesano said. “We feel horrible for these victims.”
Bank officials have been increasingly proactive in alerting clients when they detect signs of a scam, such as large cash withdrawals, he said.
Anyone who believes they have been a victim of the scam is asked to call the Washington County Sheriff’s Office. “We want people to report them,” Valesano said. “The more people who come forward, the more information we have. There’s no need to be embarrassed. These scammers are really good. They’re preying on people’s emotions.”
Jury duty scam
Meanwhile, authorities in Woodbury are warning residents about a “jury duty” scam involving callers claiming to be from the Washington County Sheriff’s Office telling people there is a warrant out for their arrest for failing to comply with jury service.
The scammers use a tactic known as “spoofing,” in which they can make the phone number that shows up on a victim’s caller ID appear the same as the Washington County Sheriff’s Office’s non-emergency phone number, said Woodbury police Det. Lucas Rogers.
The cons tell people they have missed a court date and need to pay a “bond” to prevent being arrested, Rogers said. They are given step-by-step instructions to withdraw cash from their bank and deposit it in a nearby crypto kiosk, similar to a cash ATM, he said.
EARLIER: ‘Once it’s gone, there’s no getting it back’: Scammers sending victims to cryptocurrency ATMs
Police are investigating five cases – with a total loss of $66,300 – that have occurred within city limits since April; the latest was reported Monday night.
The victims include: a 51-year-old Woodbury woman who was scammed out of $8,800 in April, a 66-year-old woman who was scammed out of $9,500 in May, a 63-year-old woman who was scammed out of $9,500 in mid-November, a 53-year-old woman who was scammed out of $18,500 in late November, and a 53-year-old man who was scammed out of $20,000 on Monday night.
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All of the cases appear related. Each involves a suspect emailing or texting the victim “copies of fabricated court documents to show that they had missed a court date or a court procedure of some sort,” Rogers said.
The scammers impersonate an officer with the sheriff’s office – often using the actual name of a sergeant or commander – and tell their victims to verify their identity using Google, Rogers said. “They say, ‘I’m going to send you emails to show you with your name on it,’” he said. “They see these official documents that further get them to believe it’s real.”
Victims are then “urgently and strongly directed to a local bank branch where they are told to withdraw a fairly large amount of money,” he said. “There’s a lot of fear and a lot of panic. They say, ‘There’s a warrant out for your arrest.’”
Rogers said all of the victims are “upstanding, educated, law-abiding citizens who simply wanted to do the right thing.”
“These are really good people who don’t usually have contact with police,” he said. “My heart breaks for them. They all describe hearing this voice in their head saying, ‘This is uncomfortable,’ and ‘This doesn’t seem right,’ but they continue to go along with it wanting to comply and solve the problem after feeling so pressured.”
In some cases, employees of gas stations or grocery stores where the crypto kiosks are located have called police to report they believe a person depositing large sums of cash into the kiosk may be a victim of a crime, Rogers said.
RELATED: Tips to avoid being crypto-scammed
“They’ll see an elderly person on the phone feeding money into this thing, and people are recognizing that this is likely a scam,” he said. “We hope everyone will call 911 and alert our patrol division to stop additional victimization if they feel a crime is occurring.”
Anyone who receives a scam phone call should hang up and block the number if they are able, Rogers said. “Don’t answer any repeat calls,” he said. “If they still have problems, they should call the Woodbury Police Department.”
Beware of Jury Scams
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Although jury service is an important civic responsibility, Minnesota courts and law enforcement will never call you and demand that you pay a fine for missing jury service.
If you receive a call asking you to pay a fine for missing jury service:
Do not give out your credit card number or make any payment.
Do not share any personal information, such as your Social Security number.
Report the call to your local law enforcement agency.
Contact your jury office if you have questions.
Source: Minnesota Judicial Branch
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