Phone Scam Alert

  During the past month several incidents of a phone scam have been reported to the Winnebago County Sheriff’s Department. Elderly citizens are being contacted by phone by younger males. The males pretend to be grandsons, and actually use the name of the real grandson of the victims.  The caller will advise the person that they are out of the country and have been arrested on drug charges and need a large sum of money wired to the American Embassy in that country. They are provided with a phone number and instructed on how to wire the money, and told not to tell anyone. They are told that it is imperative that the money be wired within the hour. A second person is involved in the scam and contacts the victim pretending to represent the embassy. The elderly victim may become confused if they have not recently seen their grandson. At least one of the victims did wire the money and all the information provided by the suspects was false. It was determined that the money was wired out of the country. The public is reminded that there are many different types of scams taking place and not to wire money or provide information relative to banking information. If contacted by someone whom is believed to be involved in scam, law enforcement should be contacted immediately.