They pretend to be a grandchild, but they're not. They're scammers, and they want your money.
Fulton City Councilmember Bev Gray said on Wednesday she didn't get taken in by the recent phone call from someone who wasn't who he said he was.
"First of all, he said, 'Hello, Grandma,'" Gray said.
That was an instant tip off, she added.
"My grandkids call me granny, not grandma," she said, laughing.
The male on the phone gave Gray a song-and-dance story about his friend being arrested with drugs, and that he'd been arrested, too.
"He was trying to get money out of me," she said. "He said he and his friends were driving a car that had white powdery stuff in the trunk, and they were taken to jail."
Gray asked the caller his location, but he wouldn't say.
"He said, 'Here, talk to the police,'" Gray added. "A kid trying to be a grown-up got on the phone."
At that point, she called their bluff and hung up. She immediately called the Fulton Police who told her to call the state attorney general's office. She did that and was told it was the classic "Grandma Scam," which has been going around for awhile. Next, Gray called the Callaway Senior Center and then a friend.
"My 82-year-old friend, she got called a couple of years ago and ended up sending them a check," Gray said.
Last May, Woman's Day magazine ran an article about what they called the "Hey Grandma" scam. That article said some scammers pretend to be grandchildren, while others pretend to be police officers holding their grandchild.
AARP Bulletin also wrote about this scam early last year, saying in 2015, the FTC received more than 10,500 "family/friend" imposter fraud complaints. The magazine said many people fall for this scam as it plays on their emotions. One way to get off the call, the AARP article stated, was to say you need to consult with another family member before sending money, and then hang up. If the emergency is real, you can find out by talking to other family members before taking action.
Gray said she just wants to get the word out to the older people in the area that this scam is a bad deal.
"Look at the people in Fulton," she said. "We're all old people."