A New Version Of A Old Scam To Watch For In Buffalo

Just when you thought you had all the scams covered, there is now something else you need to warn your parents and grandparents about. According to WIVB, the Amherst Police Department is warning about a new "grandparents scam." How this works is a caller will call up a grandparent pretending to be the grandchild in need of some kind of money. They make it sound believable because it usually involves bail money or money to get them out of trouble.

There is a twist to this version of the scam, the caller will beg the victim for money and ask them to keep this transaction a secret. They will even go as far as putting another person on the phone, who will pretend to be a lawyer. The police say, one of the new aspects of this scam is arrangements can be made for the scammer to pick up the money from the victim's house. There may be more calls made for them to send money via wire transfer or even by mail.

Here are some tips you can follow to avoid being scammed out of your money. The first thing to do is relax, resist the pressure to pay, then get off the phone with the caller and check on the person that they say is in trouble, if you can't reach them try to contact another family member to see if they know of any trouble. Don't give out your address or personal information, or cash to anyone that contacts you. Another thing you can do is check the privacy setting on any social media site to limit the amount of personal information you have available to scammers.