The Cass County Sheriff’s Office says a resident of the County has reported an attempted “Grandparent scam.”  That’s when someone calls and pretends to the potential victims’ grandchild, who is supposedly in legal trouble, or injured, and needs money immediately. Another scam asks for money to be sent so the scammer can come to America and live with the victim. And, the Sheriff’s Office reports a scam against an elderly person from a person, a stranger to the victim,  who claims she is from another part of Iowa and needs money sent to her to escape an abusive relationship and move back here to live with the elderly person.

Never give those individuals access to your funds or identification information without confirming the validity of their claims. Make sure an elderly family member is aware of these types of scams.  If in doubt about the validity of such calls, check with the grandchild’s parents, and/or the Cass County Sheriff’s Office. They can contact the agency responsible for detaining the person (if it is real), and verify the charges or situation is accurate.

For more information on grandparent/elderly scams, go to: https://www.aarp.org/money/scams-fraud/info-2019/grandparent.html