STAFF REPORTS
news@allwnynews.com
The NYSP is warning the public on a recent increase of phone scams to elderly citizens. This scam includes a few different scenarios:
- The caller claiming to be a family member in trouble or arrested in another State or Country. This caller will put urgency on helping them and not to contact other family.
- The caller claims to be a law enforcement official with a family member under arrest demanding bail or funds for them.
The caller in both scenarios will advise the victim to get a specific amount of money and buy gift cards from popular stores such as Walmart, Home Depot, Lowes, Target and other big retail stores. The victim is told to call a number and read off the gift card identification number.
Those gift cards are then used to buy items and are resold at a lesser amount by the suspect.
If you have parents or elderly people in your family, take the time to explain this scam to them.
Police agencies do not contact family for bail money, nor do they accept bail in the form of retail gift cards.
