Bend grandmother scammed out of $1,000

Two of the nation’s most widespread scams of recent years have been making their way through Bend recently, and one recently scammed a grandmother out of $1,000, officers said Sunday.

A caller from an 800 number claimed to be Portland police sergeant and told the woman that her grandson was in jail on drug charges and required bail, said Sgt. Liz Lawrence.

The callers usually direct the person to go purchase “green dot” (pre-paid Visa cards) from a convenience store, and the caller calls back to obtain the card numbers.

“Once that card number is given, the money is gone quickly and can’t be recovered,” Lawrence said.

Callers also often call seniors and claim to be a relative, such as a grandson, who is in jail and needs bail money.

The other one that has been on the rise of late is a caller claiming to be with the IRS and threatening to jail the call recipient if they don’t pay the back taxes owed.

Such calls happen all year round, Lawrence said, “but it ramps up during the holidays, and I am very concerned about our citizens being taken advantage of with no legal recourse.”

The FBI’s warning on the grandparent scam can be found at http://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2012/april/grandparent_040212

And here’s the IRS warning from last April on the back taxes scam: http://www.irs.gov/uac/Newsroom/IRS-Reiterates-Warning-of-Pervasive-Telephone-Scam