Elderly couple scammed out of $37,000 in Oxford County

An elderly couple from Oxford County has lost $37,000 to the grandparent scam, according to Ontario Provincial Police.

The investigation involves calls the couple received between March 20 and April 1 about a relative in trouble.

"The elderly grandparents are in their early nineties," said OPP Const. Barry Cookson. "They received a phone call who they believed to be their grandson."

The caller claimed to be in trouble with the law for impaired driving in another province. They needed money to get out of jail, said police.

The couple was then instructed to send a total of $37,000 through several transactions by courier in order to get their grandsonout of jail. The money was sent and the elderly couple never heard from the caller again.

"Unfortunately, we've seen this type of phone call happen far too many times," said Cookson. "The police almost never request money to get someone out of jail."

Police said there are signs that a call is fraudulent including:

• the call is from out of province
• the request isfor a large amount of money
• there are requests formultiple transfers of money
• the caller claims to be in jail or has a broken down car

What to do?

Police recommend checking with other family membersto ensure the relative in actually in trouble before sending any money.That might meancalling the grandchild's parents or another relative.

"In most cases the person is fine and they aren't in any kind of trouble at all," said Cookson.

He is also urgingpeople to call police if they receive such a call or have fallen prey to a scam.

"It is a crime that has taken place and police want to be aware," said Cookson. "Sometimes scams that are a low dollar value don't get reported because people feel ashamed."

But, he points out that the people placing the fraudulent calls are very good at what they do and it's easy to be duped when the con is pulling at your heartstrings.

"The best thing to do is hangup the phone," said Cookson.

More information can be learned about fraud by calling the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre at 1-888-495-8501 orhttp://www.antifraudcentre.ca