The emergence of the Grandparent Scam and how to spot them?

Caveat: for Australian audiences

The ongoing pandemic has massively increased our dependency on the internet. It has compelled us to switch to all forms of digital banking, payment transfers, shopping as well as communication with our family. Needless to say, our older generation has also been roped into this aggressively changing world. While it has it’s advantages, it has also been a gateway to many swindles- an important one being the “Grandparent Scams”.

These scams typically begin with an email or call saying, “I’m in trouble and I need some money.”

These fake messages are usually from scamsters. They target older people who are tricked into believing they need emergency cash for their grandchildren or other relatives.

It’s imperative to first understand how these scams work in order to shield them from being victims of these fraudulent activities.

Here are some techniques scamsters use:

• They create a sense of urgency and in the heat of the moment ask for access to your computers, credit card details, bank account credentials, and other passwords.
• Scammers do their family research, scan social media accounts, and other online outlets to learn the names of grandchildren, and sometimes even their travel plans.
• Con artists use panic and scare techniques to intimidate grandparents who instantly fall prey to these well-crafted plots.
  They would generally create pressure by falsely stating that their grandchild is in physical danger or living in poor conditions and is also unable to communicate at the given time.
• Wire Transfers: Generally, scammers ask grandparents to send a wire transfer. They can redirect and recover the money from anywhere with a reference number and a fake ID. Since wiring money is similar to sending cash, grandparents can never receive the money they’ve already sent.
• The scammers carry the act with a great deal of sophistication. They would make calls on behalf of the government or Federal Unions demanding the payment of bills in the form of pre-paid gift cards. Telstra, the Australian telcos giant had also posted online warning their clients to not revert to calls from the Australian Federal Police, claiming to seek help to “track down criminals”.

What should you do?

• In an event of a suspicious call, the best thing to do is to “Hang Up”.
• Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) recommends not responding to numbers supplied by an automated call or unrecognizable phone numbers.
• Do not transfer money asked hurriedly over calls and try not to revert to unknown international numbers.
• Avoid paying up for gift cards as none of the legitimate organizations in Australia ask for these modes of payment/transactions.
• Mandatorily delete any messages left on your voicemails.
• Avoid opening emails from unknown sources or clicking on suspicious links on the internet.
• Educate and talk to your grandparents about such scams and re-iterate the warning lists time and again.
• If you get a scam call, urgently report to FTC at ftc.gov/complaint.

Grandparent scams are easy to execute as stereotypically believed, older generations are considered “ not-so-tech-savvy”. While this may or may not be true, the important thing is to be aware of and future-proof them at all times.