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Grandchild Scam is now Child Scam
One of our residents reports that he received a phone call from a person with a muffled voice who stated that he was this resident’s son and that he had been in an accident. The resident didn’t recognize the voice and the caller said that was because of injuries he had sustained in the accident. At that point another person got on the phone and introduced himself as an attorney representing the resident’s son. This alleged attorney then went into detail about the accident stating the resident’s son was in serious trouble. He told the resident that bail for his son would be $14,000. At this point the resident had his wife call their son’s phone and the son answered. He was at home and had not been in a car accident. The resident hung up on the scam caller.
The aforementioned attempted scam was very detailed and well played by these scammers. Fortunately this resident was alert and aware and did not fall for this scam.
Lately there have been several reports of residents receiving suspicious phone calls with various types of attempted scams. Two of these reported attempted scams involved amazon purchases. In those cases the resident received a call allegedly from Amazon stating there has been a purchase made in the resident’s
name. (The amount is usually for several hundred dollars.) The resident is directed to call a number if they did not make such a purchase. If the resident calls the number the scammer uses various ploys to obtain personal information, i.e. credit card numbers, bank account numbers, Social Security numbers, etc. allegedly to clear the resident’s account.
NEVER GIVE OUT PERSONAL INFORMATION TO ANY PERSON WHO CALLS UNLESS YOU KNOW THAT PERSON!! WHEN IN DOUBT JUST HANG UP. CONTACT A RELATIVE, FRIEND OR NEIGHBOR FOR ADVICE.
We appreciate reports of attempted scams but would also like to hear about successful scams so we can warn others! Lincoln Police Weekly Crime Report does not specify details.
Avoid automated phone calls:
If caller ID does not show someone you know or if it shows a government agency you have not contacted, let it go to voicemail. A legitimate caller will leave a message.
Sign up for nomorobo.com which will screen out most automated phone calls. Free on landlines, approximately $2/month for mobiles. Unfortunately this does not work on hard-wired phone service.
When Nomorobo detects a robocall, it is transferred away. The phone will ring once or twice so wait for 3rd ring to answer.