International scam
foiled by Grandpa!
He was just setting down to noon dinner when the phone rang.
Ken Axelson of Wanamingo picked it up to hear, “Hi Grandpa!”He was trying to figure out which grandchild it could have been and asked, “which one are you?”
“Katie,” was the response. She went on to explain that she was stuck up in Canada because she had a little problem with the law.
Ken asked, “Do you need money?”
“Katie” responded, “I need $2500.”
Ken explained, “Well, I don’t know how to send money.”
“Katie” explained, “Well, you go to the bank and get $2500 in cash and then you go to Wal-Mart... you have a Wal-Mart there don’t you?”
Ken now figured out that this was not his granddaughter Katie calling because she would have known that there isn’t a Wal-Mart in Wanamingo!
So that was a red flag there.
Ken didn’t say anything but let “Katie” go on talking. She explained how he would get the money from the bank and then get a moneygram from Wal-Mart. She gave him the address to send it to and a phone number.
After she hung up, Ken called his son, who is the father of the real Katie and found out that he had just talked to his daughter about five minutes before at her work - and not in Canada!
Ken also called his real granddaughter, Katie, to make sure she was O.K.
He then knew for sure it wasn’t “my Katie” who had called.
Ken also called his real granddaughter, Katie, to make sure she was O.K.
He then knew for sure it wasn’t “my Katie” who had called.
It was a scam.
Ken went down to talk to the officers at the local Sheriff’s office and Deputy Tom Wolner explained that the phoney “Katie” would be calling back.
As soon as Ken got home, the phone was ringing. The Canadian “Katie” said, the officer at the customs office wanted to know how soon the money would be getting there?
But by this time, Ken had decided to have a little fun himself!
He mischieviously told the phoney “Katie” that he had gone to the bank and had $2500 in $100 bills.
“ I’ve got them right here in my hand.” he said beguilingly. “They look nice.”
Then Ken delivered his masterpiece by saying, “But you know, ‘Katie’, I got to thinking.
“I never did like you. So I’m not going to send the money to you!”
Ken said the conversation “went downhill from there!”
And he had foiled an attempt to cheat a concerned grandparent out of their money.
But other people haven’t been so fortunate. A recent newspaper report stated that one person lost a total of $12,000 when trying to help out their grandchild.
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