Feb. 26--A 104-year-old Palos Park woman who thought she was helping a grandson in trouble nearly lost $900 in a telephone scam, police said Wednesday in a statement.
The woman received a phone call Wednesday from someone claiming to be her grandson who said he got in a car accident after drinking and was being held in jail in Fulton County, Ill., until he paid a $900 fine, Palos Park police said.
He urged her to send the money without calling his parents, police said.
Palos Park police Chief Joe Miller said the woman asked her caregiver to check her bank account to see if she had enough money to get her grandson out of jail. The caregiver called the woman's daughter about the request and the daughter contacted police, Miller said.
In the statement, police called it "yet another scam" in which a caller claims to be a relative in urgent need of money and asks the victim to wire money immediately. Sometimes the scams take place with the assistance of a second person impersonating an official acting in the best interests of the relative in trouble, police said.
Palos Park police are tracking the woman's phone calls in hopes of identifying the caller, but most of these scams come from outside the U.S., Miller said.
