OPP are reminding everyone to be careful of Grandparent Scams.

Police explain that such scams are well-planned and well-executed by the perpetrators, by calling unsuspecting people and pretending to be a grandchild or niece or nephew who desperately needs money.

They usually use scenarios such as being arrested and needing bail money, or being in a car accident and needing money to help with medical treatment.

Huron County OPP Constable Jamie Stanley says “They’re very good at what they do, and anybody that has social media, our advice from a policing standpoint is to always be careful of who you accept as a friend or follower on social media and pay attention to your privacy settings. Because if you leave your privacy settings left on ‘public’, scammers can use that to their advantage and maybe build up some intelligence.”

The point of pretending to be a family member and asking for help is meant to play on the victims’ emotions and create a sense of urgency.

That way, when they ask for money, it doesn’t seem completely unusual for the target to hand over money for bail or medical expenses.

Keeping that in mind, if they’re asking for money while pretending to be their victim’s grandchild, they may say something like not telling their parents.

“They’re going to ask their victim to keep it discreet. They’ll often say something like ‘I want you to keep this between us. I don’t want my parents to find out,’ or ‘I’m really embarrassed about what happened,’ and that’s to spur people into action to give money without question.

Constable Stanley says that if you end up as a victim of a scam like this, contact the police immediately.

The OPP does work with the Canadian Fraud Reporting Centre, and that can help with finding and laying criminal charges against the people responsible.

In some cases, Stanley says, they’re even able to recover some of the money that’s stolen.

This article was originally sourced by www.bayshorebroadcasting.com