Rotterdam victim of “grandparent scam” has warning for others

ROTTERDAM — A woman thought she was helping her beloved grandson, but she was scammed out of $7,000.

“I got a call and it was a kid on the phone,” she said. “And he said grandma, I destroyed my life, I ruined my life, I need your help. I don’t want to be in jail for the weekend. I had an accident.”

Newschannel 13 is withholding the name of the scam victim.

When she said it didn’t sound like him, he said that was because of his injuries.

She spoke to a fake public defender, then a fake bail bondsman, all the time taking detailed notes.

She went to get the money.

“Not to tell the bank what it was for because then I can’t help you,” she said they told her.

The scammers sent someone to pick up the money. Her grandson called her back, but it was too late.

This grandmother would do anything for her family.

“Like I said, my brain was blocked out to everything. All I kept seeing was my grandson behind those bars, that’s all I saw. You couldn’t talk to me because that’s all I saw. And I didn’t want to see him there, I ruined my life, can you help me, I don’t want to be in jail for the weekend.”

She’s sharing her story to help others, and she has some advice:

“Don’t listen to anybody and anybody that says something, talk to your family, your kids first before you do anything. Anything! Because this is a scam.”

Police say scammers will put a lot of pressure on victims to hurry, but that the best thing to do is to call family members to verify the information.

“They preyed on my emotions and my sympathy and my humanity,” she said. “These people have no humanity, no nothing. They would do it to their mother, their brother, their sister. They don’t care who they do it to. They just want that money and they’ve scammed you and got away with it.”