Posing as Grandson in Peril, Crooks Scam 80-year-old for Thousands

Paramedics were called last week to the home of an elderly woman who was distraught after being scammed by crooks who pretended to be her grandson.

responders said they got a call shortly after 9 p.m. Feb. 20 that the 80-year-old may have been having a stroke, according to the police report. She had wired $2,400 earlier that day to the Dominican Republic after someone posing as her 26-year-old grandson called her and told her he'd been in a traffic accident in Chicago. 

"(Suspects told the victim) that her grandson … had just been in an accident with a subject from another country who was driving a Hertz rent-a-car," the report said. "(A caller) told the victim that (her grandson) had a blood-alcohol content of near 0.08."

The caller then said the driver of the rental car paid for damages but demanded reimbursement or he would press charges against the grandson. Damages amounted to $2,400, the man said. The caller asked the woman to wire the money to a person named "Dorka Clase" and to not tell anyone about it because her grandson could be sued. 

An employee at Super Kmart refused to wire the money for the victim, who then went to the nearest currency exchange. She wired the money and paid a $200 transfer fee. 

The woman called the number back and reached the voice mail for a public defender's office originating in Quebec, Canada.

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