The Grandparent Scam | AMAC

Every senior needs to be aware of the grandparent scam. It occurs when scammers trick grandparents into believing they are a grandchild in distress. Here, scammers hope to take advantage of the kindness of grandparents and their willingness to help in a crisis.

How do scammers typically pull off the grandparent scam?

Per Federal Communications Commission at Fcc.gov, grandparents have a hard time saying no to their grandchildren and scammers know this. Scammers will typically “mine the internet” for information or purchase data from cyber thieves to pull off a sophisticated grandparent scam.

Scammers use this information to impersonate a grandchild or other close relative and say that they are in crisis (examples include being arrested, having a health emergency, being stuck in a foreign country, or having car trouble.) The scammers pretending to be a grandchild or relative will then ask for, beg for, or demand financial assistance from the grandparent to help resolve the problem.

What are some tell-tale signs of a grandparent scam?

• Imposters often suggest that grandparents keep transactions a secret. The scammer may tell the grandparent, “Please don’t let mom or dad know.”
• Scammers pretending to be a grandchild may also hand the phone over to someone else pretending to be a person of authority such as a lawyer or police officer.
• Scammers may ask grandparents to perform wire transfers or buy gift cards or provide cash (these transactions are difficult to trace or get funds back).  

How are grandparent scams evolving?

Grandparent scams are evolving by becoming more sophisticated. Scammers are using technology to help them trick victims. For instance, scammers will spoof numbers, sometimes altering caller IDs to appear as if calls are coming from the relative. Additionally, scammers may steal voices through AI cloning to impersonate the relative. This makes telling a scam from reality difficult. Read more about that later in this article. 

It’s not new

The grandparent scam is not new – but it has become more sophisticated. Due to improved technology, scammers are finding it easier to pull off this AI-related scam. Let’s look at what AI scams are and learn how they are affecting seniors.

But first, let’s quickly examine some ways to avoid being scammed:

• Learn about the latest scams, such as the grandparent scam, to stay informed and prevent yourself and others from being scammed.
• Know the basic red flags of scams to keep safe. Some include urgent calls to action, threats, coercive language, pressure tactics, and asking for personal information.
• Be suspicious of individuals, businesses, or organizations contacting you out of the blue, especially those containing unusual requests for information or money.
• Don’t answer the door to strangers and never let strangers into your home.
• While scams can happen to anyone, seniors are frequent targets of scams due to accumulated wealth for retirement, isolation (living alone), trusting natures, and sometimes declines in decision making and cognitive thinking.
• AI scams are particularly challenging for victims and law enforcement to detect.  Understand that some scammers are sly and sophisticated, so never assume you can’t be tricked.

AI being misused

Artificial intelligence (AI) is generally beneficial because it enhances human capabilities. For instance, it automates repetitive tasks and helps people across various sectors like computer technology, healthcare, and transportation. While it greatly improves efficiency, a major drawback is the potential for abuse.

Grandparents urged to use caution

A grandparent scam can take on several forms, but the latest involves a type of AI scam. These are scams that use AI to trick and exploit people. To put the grandparent scam into action, scammers must gain access to some basic information. Therefore, grandparents are encouraged to keep their guards up. What does this mean? It means being mindful of what information is shared about grandchildren and other close relatives on social media or with strangers. It also means being wise to scams so that you aren’t tricked.

Educate one another

Don’t assume that your older relative knows how to identify a scam. Because scam methods change with technology, have open conversations to share information. Children and grandchildren of elderly people are encouraged to talk with their relatives about scams and scam prevention. Elderly people should be informed of what to do should they be contacted out of the blue and asked for money or personal information.

Get professional advice

If you or a senior relative suspect a scam, stop the scammer by immediately ending contact. Do not worry about being impolite. It is better to be safe than sorry. If you are having trouble determining whether something is a scam, and you’re on the fence, stop and do not act. Instead, seek independent advice promptly from a trusted and knowledgeable family member or professional. Never succumb to pressure or keep things a secret. Anyone asking you to do so is a scammer.

Per cybersecurity expert, Norton, AI has a “dual impact on cybercrime” by boosting a scammer’s productivity and making their crimes more sophisticated. It now takes scammers using AI mere seconds to accomplish tasks such as writing and responding to phishing messages and cracking passwords.

AI scams are complex and may include:

• Deepfake voice calls: Per text-reading Speechify, deepfake voices are synthetic voices generated using advanced machine learning algorithms to mimic a real person’s voice. They describe that unlike traditional text-to-speech methods, deepfake voices can produce highly realistic audio content that is almost indistinguishable from the actual voice of the person being mimicked. Deepfakes are so advanced that they can also manipulate a person’s face in a video to appear realistic.

How this voice-cloning technology can be misused: Scammers can “steal” a person’s voice, generate artificial speech, and use it for impersonation and the spreading of misinformation and fake news. This can happen in a grandparent scam! (Read the story at the bottom)

• AI-powered phishing attacks: In this social engineering scheme, hackers send messages pretending to be someone they are not. Scammers can send automated and convincing messages to potential victims in just seconds. These types of attacks target millions of people.
• AI-generated fake websites: Norton shares that scammers are using AI to build fake websites that mimic real businesses, government pages, the media and more. “In the past, it took time to create a detailed web page. But now, scammers can use AI to generate images, product descriptions, and even customer reviews in minutes.” Scammers do their best to lure victims to their “dupe websites” through something called pharming attacks – where victims input their personal information thinking that they are logging into their account – but they are unknowingly sending information directly to the scammer.
• Fake AI products: AI can create convincing images and descriptions for fake items. These items may be listed at low prices, or a buyer may be asked for a deposit. This trickery, of course, is designed to steal payment information.  

The “It can’t happen to me mentality”

Many people believe that because they’re smart, they won’t fall victim to a scam. Unfortunately, emotions and the desire to help those we love can get in the way. Plus, advancement in scam technology can make it challenging to distinguish what’s real.

It happened to her

Recently, an 86-year-old grandmother from South Philly was scammed. A call came out of the blue. The caller (whom the grandmother believed was her granddaughter) was crying. The granddaughter said she was in an accident and that the airbag hit her in the face. She tells her grandmother she is being detained by the police. A lawyer gets on the phone and says he needs money to get her granddaughter out of jail. He asks for over $10,000. When the grandmother says she doesn’t have it, the lawyer says they’d take what she had. The lawyer kept the grandmother on the phone as she gathered the funds to give to a man who came to her door to collect it. Shortly after, grandma discovered that her granddaughter was fine, and that the whole scheme was a scam.  

What could grandma have done differently in the above case?

Note some common signs of a grandparent scam:  

1) The call comes out of the blue.

2) A sudden emergency is presented involving a close family member (in this case the granddaughter).

3) The caller is emotional.

4) The caller puts another person on the phone.

5) There is an urgent need for money.

6) There is a willingness to settle for what money was available.

7) There is a desire to accept cash (untraceable payment).

8) The caller remains on the phone line until the money is picked up.

Unfortunately, the caller is a scammer who preyed on his victim’s emotions. In many cases, scammers will also ask people to keep payments a secret. These are more telltale signs of a scam.

Stay protected

To protect herself, grandmother would benefit from hanging up with the caller and calling the granddaughter directly to verify if the story is true. In this case, she would have discovered that her granddaughter was just fine. What makes this scam incredibly hard to detect is that the scammers stole her granddaughter’s voice via AI technology, so the caller sounded exactly like her granddaughter. Experts say it is easy to clone a voice these days.

The grandparent scam equals elder fraud

Elder fraud describes financial abuse that happens to older people. It is a terrible problem in the U.S. According to NBC10Philadelphia, the FBI reports receiving 147,127 complaints in 2024 with losses equaling $4.9 billion. This demonstrates that it’s a widespread problem. This is only the number we know about as it’s believed that many older people do not report scams due to embarrassment, fear, or denial. People who are scammed should NOT feel ashamed. In fact, they are encouraged to come forward to help authorities identify trends, educate the public to keep others from harm, and build cases against criminals.

Click the link: Report scams promptly to agencies such as the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

Disclosure: This article is purely informational and is not intended as a substitute for professional advice.