The voice over the phone sounded desperate, and a bit familiar, to Betty Carter.
"Grandma," the young man implored. "I'm in trouble in Vancouver, Canada, and I need your help."
Immediately, the 79-year-old Carrollton woman was alarmed enough to overlook the fact that the voice didn't really sound like any of her four grandsons.
"Stephen, is that you?" she asked the caller, supplying the name of her 26-year-old grandson.
The caller replied, "Yes, it's Stephen."
With her grandmotherly instincts on hyper-alert, Carter found herself ensnared in one of the most successful telephone cons going these days: the "the granny scam."
Last year, 435 American grandparents were enticed to wire $2.2 million to Canada for "grandchildren," who were supposed victims of car accidents, under arrest or simply stranded. Their loving gestures averaged $5,083 apiece.
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/030109dnmetgranny.134aebf.htmlThese people are evil!