Shelton police are warning residents after a telephone scam targeted a local senior citizen.
Lieutenant Robert Kozlowsky said the scam involves a caller pretending to be the grandchild of an intended victim or a law enforcement officer who tells the intended victim that his or her grandchild has been arrested and needs money to get out of jail.
The scammer then gives the targets instructions on how to wire money to get their grandchildren out of trouble, Kozlowsky said.
He said citizens should be suspicious when receiving a phone call in which a person doesn’t use a name, but says something like “It’s your grandson.” People should also be suspicious if the person says they are in trouble and ask for money to be wired, according to Kozlowsky, who said a Shelton resident was targeted by such a scam Thursday but that the person targeted didn’t lose any money.
He said police are looking into another case which might involve a similar scam but did not know whether the two were related.
Kozlowsky said the scam, which is common, makes the rounds every now and then.
“As far as Shelton, we were quiet with it for awhile,” Kozlowsky said.
Police said if people receive such suspicious calls, they should call to verify the identity and location of the person claiming to be in trouble, call another family member who can confirm the person’s whereabouts, and try to contact the person the caller claims to be.
They should not wire any money unless they have verified with another family member or friend that the person really is in trouble, police said. Also important, they said, people should not give out any personal information such as bank account or credit card numbers to anyone who calls on the phone. That’s because wiring money, police said, is like sending cash; there are no protections for the sender, who cannot reverse the transaction, trace the money, or recover payment from a scammer.
