Grandparent scam foiled

HAYDEN - It sounded like her grandson on the other end of the phone call Wednesday morning.

But Rita Walters had her doubts, especially when he said he needed $3,300 wired to him within 90 minutes to get out of jail in Rio de Janeiro. Oh, and by the way, don't tell dad, he said.

So she asked a question or two of her own.

"What are the names of your two dogs?"

"Grandma, I don't have dogs," he answered.

"Yes, you do, too," Walters said.

Then, the Hayden woman asked a most basic question.

"What's your name?"

The young man hung up. Scam foiled.

Once off the phone, she called the grandson's father in North Carolina. Her 18-year-old grandson was at work, she was told.

The incident was another in a string of nationwide calls from someone claiming to be a grandson or granddaughter in some kind of trouble and in need of money, quickly.

Walters said when she answered the phone about 10 a.m. Wednesday, the voice on the other end said, "This is your grandson," but didn't give a name.

He said his friend won a trip to Rio de Janeiro, "something bad happened," and he wound up in jail. Money would set him free, but she had to act quickly.

"At one point, he was crying," Walters said.

But she was still suspicious, and had heard rumors of such phony phone calls designed to trick trusting grandparents out of the savings.

That's when she decided to ask something few would know.

"When he didn't know his dogs, I knew it wasn't him," Walters said.