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The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

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Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

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Scam Targeting Grandparents Active in Region

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Monday, July 13, 2015   

CHARLESTON, W.Va. – Consumer advocates are warning that scammers who cynically target a grandparent's love are phoning older folks in the middle of the night.

Mary Bach, a consumer advocate with the AARP's Consumer Issues Task Force, says a caller claims to be a police officer, a hospital official or even the grandchild him or herself.

The caller says you have to wire money or give your credit card number right away to pay for a hospital bill or a fee to get the grandchild out of jail. Bach says the caller very cynically manipulates your emotions.

"It is so very difficult because no one wants to think that his or her loved one needs money,” she says. “And the scammer is very quick to say, 'Don't tell anybody. Don't let anybody know.' "

Bach says you should ask the caller for information only the grandchild would know. She says you can find out more at AARP’s Fraud Watch Helpline at 877-908-3360, or under the money section of the AARP's website, aarp.org.

Bach says you should ask for something such as the name of another relative or a family pet, something a scammer wouldn't know. She says never give money or information to callers who call you out of the blue – only do it if you call them. And don't volunteer any private information callers could use to con you.

"If the caller says, 'Hi, grandpa,' make the caller provide the information by asking something like, 'Oh, which grandson is this?'” she advises. “Many times, the fraudster will just hang up."

Bach says one new wrinkle is that the caller may ask that the money be put on a reloadable card bought at a big-box store. But overall a 2010 survey found more than 7 million Americans 65 and older – one in five – have been victimized by some kind of swindle.

The insurance and financial firm MetLife estimates older Americans lose more than $2.9 billion a year this way.





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