Crestview grandmother snared by scam

A late-night plea for help from a grandson in trouble. A caring and concerned grandmother.  A dash to the grocery store to wire him money. Another victim of a scam.

In the case of Beach Campbell, the “grandson” was really a scam artist preying on the Crestview resident’s love for her close-knit family, and the money she hastily wired vanished into the scammer’s pocket somewhere in Toronto or beyond.

Campbell offered to share her experience in the hope that it will prevent her neighbors from becoming victims themselves.

“I thought my grandson was in trouble and I bailed him out,” Campbell said. “I was in a hurry because I had garden club that night and I was baking. I didn’t pay that much attention. He (the caller) had an answer for everything. And it did sound like Austin. It sounded like a young person.”

Campbell said the caller said, “Grandmother, do you know who this is?”

She was a little surprised because, “He never calls me anything but Nanny,” Campbell said, but she thought perhaps because he later said he was with authorities in an interview room at a Toronto courthouse, he was being more formal.

The story was plausible. “Austin” and his college roommate rented a car and drove to Canada for a mini vacation, tried to stop at an intersection, skidded on the ice and hit another vehicle. He needed money for his attorney, the caller said. Campbell wired him more than $2,000. Less than three hours later he called back asking for more money.

“The first money was for his attorney,” Campbell said. “The second money he said he had to leave for the court system because they wouldn’t let him come back to the States unless he paid a deposit. He said he had to leave $2,200 with the court system to assure he will be back.”

Milking her just a bit more, the fake “Austin” also asked for food money, claiming he hadn’t eaten since the incident. Campbell added another $200 to the second wire transfer.

With wire fees, Campbell was taken for more than $5,000.

Between that day in early February and this week, Campbell saw her grandson twice when his family visited from Texas, and was a bit surprised that Austin never mentioned the incident. She just assumed he was embarrassed and didn’t want to mention it in front of his parents.

“Then I got my AARP newsletter and there was an article about how many grandmothers had been scammed out of money,” Campbell said. Her heart sank. The descriptions victims gave in the article matched her own experience. “The article said they’ve been scammed out of $4.5 million.”

Campbell promptly called her grandson’s cell phone. “I said, ‘Austin, this is Nanny. Have you ever been to Canada?’ Before returning my call, Austin called his mother and said, ‘I got the weirdest message from Nanny.’”

“This is something that has been going around for a long time,” said Ashley Bailey, the crime prevention specialist for the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office. “We started seeing this scam in our area around August of 2008.”

Bailey said the sheriff’s office has sent out at least four warnings about the scam since it first surfaced. It tends to go in cycles, she said, as people become aware of it, but later forget about it. Campbell’s call perfectly matched the experience of other victims of the fraud.

“It’s usually a male caller and they usually call late at night or early in the morning,” Bailey said. “They say, ‘Grandma, this is your grandson!’ She’ll say, ‘Oh, Steve,’ and play right into them.”

Campbell reported the incident to the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office Fraud Line, which referred her to a fraud center in Ontario. An operator at the Canadian center told Campbell they have received many complaints and have traced many of the scammers to Nigeria. They advised her to contact Western Union.

Using Campbell’s wire transfer serial numbers, Western Union said it can trace who picked up the money and determine where the payment was claimed. Campbell is awaiting the information from the wire service. She must then provide the information to the FBI, as it involves international fraud.

“That’s the end of my tale, except I’m out about $5,100,” Campbell said. “In the AARP article it said a lot of grandparents wouldn’t report it because they’re embarrassed. Well I’m not embarrassed. I’m mad!”

If you suspect you have been the victim of fraud, contact the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office Fraud Line immediately, 651-7674

‘Grandma, I need help!’

Loving grandparents may sometimes receive calls from their grandchildren seeking assistance, but sometimes, it’s hard to tell if it is actually a grandchild calling. The Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office offers these tips to make sure you do not become a victim of fraud:

• The caller will sometimes claim to be the friend of a grandchild who has gotten in trouble and needs money. Some reasons are the grandchild has been arrested and needs to make bond, or his wallet was stolen and he is now stranded without cash, or he has had a traffic accident. Tell the caller you will verify the information and call back. Ask for a callback number.

• If you’re unsure whether the call is legitimate, try to get as much detailed information as possible.

• Verify the distress story through another trustworthy source, such as a direct relative of the person the caller is claiming to be. For example: “I just received a call from someone who said he is your son Steve. Is Steve traveling in Canada right now?”

• If you can’t reach other relatives right away, ask the caller a question that an impersonator would be unable to answer. Make sure the question is not basic family information (e.g., names, birthdates, addresses), which scammers can easily look up. Instead, ask about details of a family event or family stories that outsiders would be unlikely to know. For example: “What did Aunt Minnie take to last year’s family reunion?” “What didn’t Aunt Betty wear until she went to college?”

• Ask for a callback number.

• If you feel you are a victim of fraud, call the sheriff’s office Fraud Line at 651-7674.

• Keep abreast of frauds that surface in our area by e-mailing OCSO Crime Prevention Specialist Ashley Bailey at abailey@sheriff-okaloosa.org and asking to be added to her fraud alert e-mails.