Don't let 'grandma' instincts cost you hard-earned cash

It seems there's no limit to the creativity of a devious mind.

Every week, local authorities receive reports of some new scam involving the Internet, telephone calls, credit cards, bank accounts or various combinations of the above.

It's one thing when scammers utilize a basic human fault like greed -- I'll send you thousands of dollars if you just (a.) give me your bank account numbers or (b.) send me money to pay the fees or taxes associated with this lottery ticket you don't remember buying or (c.) some other pretense to have you part with your hard-earned dollars.

As often as not, police don't hear from such victims, ashamed at their gullibility as well as their greed.

It's another thing when the crooks take advantage of the love of a parent or grandparent.

That's what a caller did to 72-year-old Delpha Speak of Carthage, Mo., who thought one of her 13 grandchildren was calling the other night.

"Grandma," he said when she answered the phone. "I said 'which grandson?' He said 'Guess,' and I said 'Oh, it's Jamie,'" the Associated Press reported.

"Jamie" was in jail after getting in a car wreck in Niagra Falls, he said, and needed $5,000 to get out of the police station. She was to wire him the money via MoneyGram at Wal-Mart, and he begged her not to call her granddaughter, because he hadn't told anyone he was going to Canada.

Although it was a plausible story, and Delpha's husband actually went to the bank, she had second thoughts. A call to her daughter confirmed that the actual Jamie was at home in Kansas City.

It was a classic ploy, said the Missouri attorney general's office. Too often the word "grandma" generates instincts that the scammers exploit to gain the name of the person they're impersonating.

Earlier this year, another Missouri man was nearly bilked out of $8,000 with a similar scam.

The attorney general's office offered some good advice. When you're about to be taken in by such a caller, stop, collect your thoughts, and then do whatever you can to verify the location of your grandchildren. Through the use of cell phones, the Internet and conventional telephones, that shouldn't take more than a few minutes.

Information on many types of scams and how to protect yourself from them is available at the Nebraska Attorney General's office, http://www.ago.state.ne.us/consumer/

If you've already fallen victim to such a scam, let authorities know. It may be embarrassing to you, but you may save someone else an expensive heartache.