Better Business Bureau of Southern Arizona is warning consumers to be on the lookout for a resurgence of the “grandparent scam,” which is again targeting victims in southern Arizona.

The Explorer News is reporting that Oro Valley Police met with a couple that received a phone call from scammers posing as their grandson, who was supposedly in a Canadian jail and needed $2,000 in bail money. The couple said a second man got on the phone claiming to be a police officer; he told the couple that in total they would need to send $4,875 to free their grandson. The couple attempted to wire that amount to Canada, before being told it was a scam by the Western Union attendant.

“Once you send money to Canada, there’s no hope of getting it back,” said Kim States, BBB president. “A good rule of thumb is to never wire money out of the country unless you initiated contact with that relative or friend and you know for a fact they are where they say they are.”

Last year the scam claimed at least one other local victim when 74-year-old Alice Clark answered a call at her Tucson home from someone whom she thought she was her grandson Josh.

“I was just so sure it was him,” said Clark, who tapped into her savings account for $8,000. “He sounded so distressed. He asked me to keep everything confidential because he was embarrassed and didn’t want the family to know what had happened.”

It wasn’t until she didn’t hear back from her grandson that Clark called his home and he surprisingly answered the phone. It was at that moment she knew she had been robbed.

“It was just like somebody threw ice water on me,” she said.

BBB offers the following tips to protect against this scam:

• Don’t fill in the blanks for the caller: In Clark’s example, the scammer asks a leading question “Hello grandma; do you know who this is?”  Ask a lot of questions, and those that have (more…)

Fraud targeting senior citizens is a growing concern as millions have fallen victim to scammers. Better Business Bureau encourages families to keep the lines of communication open with their elders regarding finances and to recognize some common cons targeting senior citizens.

According to a June 2010 survey by Investor Protection Trust, more than 7.3 million senior citizens—roughly 20 percent of Americans aged 65 or older– have “been taken advantage of financially in terms of an inappropriate investment, unreasonably high fees for financial services, or outright fraud.”

“Having a serious conversation with your elderly parents about how they are managing their money is not easy, but it is extremely important in order to help protect them from unscrupulous crooks,” said Kim States, BBB President. “It’s extremely important to keep the lines of communication open so that you can identify suspicious spending habits, as well as educate your elder family members on recognizing the red flags of common cons.”

BBB warns against the following five scams that commonly target senior citizens:

Sweepstakes and Lottery Scams –Typically, the victim receives a letter in the mail stating they have won a lottery or sweepstakes; it might even claim to be from Publisher’s Clearing House or (more…)