Complaints are on the rise about a scam that preys on a grandparent’s love, according to the Federal Trade Commission.
A scammer calls posing as a grandchild in distress, and tries to put the squeeze on the grandparent to wire money for repairing a car, paying a fine, or getting out of trouble in a foreign country.
The Federal Trade Commission, the nation’s consumer protection agency, has some advice to avoid being taken in by a supposed “family” member or a fake emergency: Check out the facts before you send money to anyone, anywhere – especially when wire transfers are involved. To learn more, see the consumer alert “A Scam Based on Relative-ity: Would-be Grandchildren Bilking Honest Grandparents” at http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/alerts/alt111.shtm.
The Federal Trade Commission works for consumers to prevent fraudulent, deceptive, and unfair business practices and to provide information to help spot, stop, and avoid them. To file a complaint in English or Spanish, visit the FTC’s online Complaint Assistant or call 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357). The FTC enters complaints into Consumer Sentinel, a secure, online database available to more than 1,500 civil and criminal law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and abroad. The FTC’s Web site provides free information on a variety of consumer topics.
(FYI grandparent scam)
WASHINGTON — Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC)…
WASHINGTON – Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) outlined…
WASHINGTON—Acting Senior Deputy Comptroller and Chief Counsel Ted Dowd today testified on the Office of…
The Committee convened in a closed session at the Department of the Treasury at 9:00…
WASHINGTON — Today, the Department of the Treasury is taking action to further degrade Russia’s…
WASHINGTON – The final results from the annual survey of foreign portfolio holdings of U.S. securities at…