Telephone Scam Targeting Seniors In Wheaton
WHEATON, Ill. (CBS) -- Wheaton Police are warning seniors about a telephone scam that is making the rounds again.
As WBBM Newsradio's Steve Miller reports, if the phone rings and it's someone who says he's your grandson or your nephew, and he is in jail in another country and needs bail money, Wheaton police say you should think twice.
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Deputy Chief Thomas Meloni says that over the past several months, at least five seniors have gotten such calls.
But it wasn't really a relative in need on the other end. It was a scammer - pretending to be a relative like a grandson.
"In a couple of the cases they did know the name of the relative," Meloni said. "How they came about that information I do not know."
Meloni says police are investigating.
"Our detectives will follow up these cases as far as we can follow the trail. But they're very difficult to solve," he said.
Meloni says in two cases, victims were scammed out of hundreds of dollars.
