Grandparent Scam
Who are the scammers posing as?
Grandchildren
What did the scammers claim the fee that they made Walter pay them was for?
Taxes
Who are the most common targets in this scam?
Widows and widowers
About how much money per year are older individuals robbed of in financial scams such as this one?
$3 billion
Where do the majority of these types of scams take place?
Jamaica and Costa Rica
About how much money was lost in the past year due to romance scams?
Over a billion
Regardless of education level or rationality, this scam triggers the ___ of older individuals, forcing them to act
emotions
About how many people reported sweepstakes and lottery scams to the Better Business Bureau tracker in 2017?
Nearly 3,000
How long do these scams typically last?
Weeks to years
What are the two main ways given by the scammer in the video that can help grandparents avoid the grandparent scam?
1. Ask questions that only your grandchild would know
2. Confide in someone!
About how much money was lost to these scams in 2017?
Over 100 million
What are the two main red flags to look for, to identify a romance scammer?
1. Overseas/out of country
2. Asking for money
What are the three reasons that make it so hard to tell how many grandparents have been affected by this scam?
1.No national database to track the grandparent scam
2. Victims of the scam are too embarrassed to report
3. Many of the scammers are outside of the U.S
What are the five ways these scammers reach out to older individuals?
1. Cold calling
2. Text messages
3. Internet pop-ups
4. Mail
5. Social media
Third-party sends money to the victim, victim sends money off to the scammer