Maryland man loses $38K to "grandparent scam" using replicated voice

BALTIMORE -- You hear about imposter scams all the time. Someone calls and pretends they're an authority figure, pressuring you to send money. 

Many think they'd probably never fall for it. But WJZ's Linh Bui spoke with a Maryland man, who does not want to be identified, about how easily he got fooled.

The scam started with a frantic phone call from a woman who said she was their granddaughter. She told them she had gotten into a serious car accident that sent three people to the hospital. Police impounded her car, took away her phone, and were detaining her at the station. She was desperate for help, and begged them not to tell her parents.

Victim: "We were just trying to calm our granddaughter down, and tell her that we loved her. We will do anything we can to help her out. And don't worry."

Linh: "Can you describe the voice that you heard, and how similar it was to your granddaughter's voice?

Victim: "Fooled my wife, me, and we've played a tape of the third phone call -- fooled her parents, too."

Linh: "It's the voice that makes it so concerning. That they can replicate someone's voice."

Victim: "If we had gotten a call from a lawyer with the same story, we never would have fallen for it. You throw in that loved one at the beginning, and all reason goes out."

The "granddaughter" had them talk to her "lawyer," who convinced them to send the money and keep it secret.

Victim: "He told us a gag order was imposed by a judge, and we couldn't talk to anybody but each other."

Linh: "He was so believable as a lawyer. You trusted him"

Victim: "We were frantic to obey everything he said. It doesn't make sense in retrospect, a lot of it. But we got sucked in."

The Federal Trade Commission reports consumers lost nearly $8.8 billion to fraud last year. That's an increase of more than 30 percent over 2021. 

Imposter scams are the most commonly reported. This case is an example of a grandparent scam.

Victim: "We lost a good two to three days of our lives, where we didn't sleep. We didn't eat. We were worried."

Linh: "How much money did you lose in all?"

Victim: "38 thousand dollars."

Linh: "Do you think you'll get that money back?"

Victim: "Absolutely not. Absolutely not. Chalk that up to being loving grandparents trying to help your grandchild."

Police are investigating this case. They say never send money to someone you don't know, and call police if you think you're being scammed. 

The victims finally realized they were duped after texting their actual granddaughter days later.

Victim: "It's embarrassment and a total feeling of stupidity. And we walk around saying -- right across our forehead, it says sucker, stupid, gullible."

They hope their story serves as a lesson, to prevent this from happening to someone else.

Victim: "We have our health. We have our grandchild. We have a little less money, but life will go on"

Linh: "It can happen to anyone."

Victim: "When emotions take over, and you think your grandchild is hurting, you'll do anything. "