Manning resident Barbara Ardis got a troubling phone call on Monday.
Someone pretending to be her oldest grandchild called her from an Ohio number and asked for money.
"We had just been warned on Sunday at church about a possible scam like this where people pretending to be grandchildren call up seniors and ask for money," said Ardis, who attends New Covenant Presbyterian Church, where the Rev. John Dodd of Kingstree talked about the scam during a sermon on Sunday. The person identifies him or herself as the victim's grandhild, says he or she has been out of town for a funeral and then asks for money to get home.
Ardis said when she answered the phone, the caller immediately said, "Hey, Grandma."
"I asked them who it was, and he said, 'Don't you recognize my voice?'" Ardis said. "I said I didn't, and he said it was my oldest grandchild."
Ardis asked why there was a lot of noise in the background.
"He said he was at a payphone, and I asked why he was at a payphone, and he said that he had gone out of town to go to a funeral," Ardis said. "I said, 'Oh, I think I heard about that funeral, and I bet you need some money.' He then hung up."
The scam first received notice from local law enforcement when residents began receiving calls in Manning and Wyboo in May 2014. That year, a 77-year-old man received a call from a supposed "grandson," who said he was in the Dominican Republic and that he needed $3,000 to get home.
A man claiming to be Capt. James Neal from the U.S. Army then told the older man that the boy needed the money to get out of jail. The “grandson” told the 77 year old that he was in a taxi that was stopped, and police found a bag next to him with drugs in it.
Kathleen and Thomas Wetherald of Wyboo received a similar phone call in late April 2014 from a man purporting to be their grandson. That young man told the couple that he was in Mexico on vacation, had gotten into some trouble and needed money for bail. But the Wetheralds have no children or grandchildren.
“We don’t have any grandchildren, because we don’t have any children,” Kathleen Wetherald said.
Ardis, however, said she has multiple grandchildren. Had it not been for her pastor's warning Sunday, she said she may have fell for the scam.
"You know, you don't know where your grandchildren are at all times, and I have several, so I could've fallen for this," she said. "You worry about your grandchildren, and you don't want them to be stranded.
Doug Shadel of AARP said that's one reason the Grandparents Scam works against common sense: It triggers an immediate emotional response.
“We’ve had doctors and lawyers fall for this,” he said. “It doesn’t matter what your educational level is because it triggers something emotional. It causes you to act.”
According to the National Council on Aging, seniors are robbed of roughly $3 billion annually in financial scams.
