Senior Citizens Warned About Family Member Phone Scam

People have been trying to lure senior citizens into a variety of phone scams for the last decade, and recently police out of Texas are warning seniors to be aware of a scam that is going around lately. There have been various phone scams which involve a long lost family member, and the recent phone scam is a variation off of that concept. In the reported cases, individuals are calling up seniors and claiming that they are a distance family member form Mexico, and traveling soon to the United States and looking to visit. This appears to be a way for the scammer to build a rapport with the senior, so that they can then call back within a day and claim that they have been in a serious car crash in Mexico. The supposed car crash has landed the “family member” in jail and now the only way to get out is by paying off the police in Mexico, and the scammers have even had another individual hop on the phone to act as the cop and provide the information on where to send the money, in an attempt to make the call seem even more real.

Typically most elderly people will view this kind of call as a prank or harassment, and do not move forward to attempt to try and help the “family member” out, however some seniors have already lost money due to this phone scam. Therefore seniors and anyone who knows a senior living along, should be aware of these types of phone scams so that they can avoid falling victim and losing their much needed money. Seniors should also make sure to reach out to real family members who they know and trust to better understand if someone really is in trouble, or if it is all a scam.