Florida: Elderly Couple Falls Victim to 'Grandparents Scam,' Says Fake Granddaughter Called After Vehicle Accident

An elderly couple from Florida received a call from someone who posed as their granddaughter, asking for money, according to a press release from the Volusia County Sheriff's Office.

After calling the sheriff's office, a woman who said she was their granddaughter said she had been in a car accident in South Carolina and required $12,500 in bail to get released from jail.

Money was to be placed in a shoebox and left at a certain location; a courier would collect it.

The couple followed the caller's instructions after they had collected the necessary cash. A few hours later, a male messenger drove off with the $12,500.

According to Fox, a woman who claimed to be the granddaughters' lawyer called the grandparents again a few hours later.

Someone posing as a lawyer said the other accident victim would have a baby, but the baby died.

Assuming their granddaughter would be charged with vehicular homicide, they would need an additional $12,500 to post bond, which the judge had set at $25,000.

Suspicious Call Prompts Elderly Couple to Call Sheriff's Office

Then a third call arrived. This time it was a man posing as a prosecutor asking for an extra $10,000 to help his granddaughter to skip ten years of jail time.

This time it was a man posing as a prosecutor asking for an extra $10,000 to help his granddaughter to skip ten years of jail time.

At that time, the couple became suspicious and called the sheriff's office to report the incident, per Fox.

The sheriff's office coined the term "Grandparents Scam" to represent this imposter fraud, in which perpetrators pose as law enforcement officers and call grandparents to tell them that their grandchild has been arrested.

In these calls, the imposter poses as the grandchild, saying they have been stolen or imprisoned abroad and desperately need money to go home.

Grandparents Scam Is Not New in Florida

This month, an elderly mother was similarly duped by a "granddaughter," which appears to be a typical Florida scam technique.

The loss of almost $700,00 from an 82-year-old Florida woman who allegedly fell for a grandparents scam has prompted authorities to request Uber's data, Tampa Bay Times reported.

They spent the entire summer convincing her that her granddaughter was in legal trouble and needed her help. Case filings state that she was ordered to get cash from her bank and provide it to a courier.

The publication claims that they convinced the woman to withdraw $100,000 from 13 separate BB&T Bank locations before she ran out of money.

The woman's attorney, Guy Burns, alleged that the grandparent scammers' story became more convoluted as time passed.

The woman's fake granddaughter convinced her to tell bank tellers that the funds were for "home improvements" and the contractors preferred to be paid in cash if they questioned the shady dealings.

In addition, they detailed how to secure the cash in padded envelopes before the courier came to collect it.

Truist Bank, the merging of BB&T and SunTrust, was named as the defendant in the woman's civil action, which was filed in September.

That the bank ignored red flags and continued to let the woman make large, erratic withdrawal is a major point of contention.

Meanwhile, the Volusia County Sheriff's Office advises you to trust your gut and be on the watch for fraud of this nature.

They also advised everyone to stop, listen to their instincts, try to find out where the grandchild is from a different source, and wait before taking any action. If you get a call like this and have questions, please get in touch with them at their office number: (386) 248-1777.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Bert Hoover

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