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Uploaded: Wednesday, May 13, 2009, 12:23 AM
Computer failure foils 'favorite grandson' scam
Palo Alto detective is able to cancel the transfer of nearly $5,000
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by Kris Young
Palo Alto Online Staff
Failure of a computer at a money-transfer service saved a 99-year-old Palo Alto grandmother from becoming a victim of a "favorite grandson" financial scam, according to police.
The failure allowed a detective time to cancel the transaction before the scammer could get the money.
Police Agent Dan Ryan said the woman was contacted by phone midday Thursday by a man who claimed to be her "favorite grandson." She attempted to guess which grandson he was and he pretended to be one of them.
Palo Alto has had five reported "favorite grandson" scam cases in as many weeks, Ryan said.
The man claimed he desperately needed to borrow $4,800 to post bail for a drunk-driving charge in Vancouver, Canada. He asked her to transfer the money through the MoneyGram service and not to notify any relatives to save him further humiliation.
But the computer service for MoneyGram failed when the "grandson" attempted to retrieve the money. He contacted the woman a second time Thursday to get further information to complete the transaction, Ryan said.
She supplied the additional information but became suspicious and called relatives, who confirmed the man was not a grandson.
She called police the next morning.
Detective Jason Jenkins, a fraud specialist, canceled the MoneyGram transfer before the scammer could get the money.
The woman was ecstatic, Ryan said: "She wanted to hug the detective and couldn't stop thanking him," he said.
MoneyGram transfers are popular with scammers because once the money is sent it can be picked up at any branch across the country with a predetermined password, Ryan said. They are hard to break because of the anonymity of the transfer system, he added.
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Posted by LEK, a resident of another community, on May 13, 2009 at 10:48 am Isn't this a wonderful world, where people are just sitting around thinking up schemes to scam a 99 year old?
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Posted by Rita, a resident of another community, on May 13, 2009 at 10:59 am Western Union and MoneyGram HAVE to start questioning the Elderly if they informed a relative first before they transfer money to a Grandson they have not seen in years!
Elderly like to be asked and helped! We have to advise them of these bad people!
We will inform as well Senator Diane Feinstein.
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Posted by Kudos, a resident of another community, on May 13, 2009 at 11:03 am Congrats to Detective Jason Jenkins for having the opportunity to cancel the scam. I hope he is able to track down the "grandson".
I'm still surprised at how willing people are to give money without being sure of who it is going to or where it is going.
People will continue to scam given the opportunity. We need to be on alert.
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Posted by Ray Bacchetti, a resident of the University South neighborhood, on May 13, 2009 at 11:25 am Very nice police work. Our well trained and committee cops are a great community asset.
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Posted by nomo, a resident of the Midtown neighborhood, on May 13, 2009 at 2:38 pm
No different than martha stewart.
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Posted by Walter_E_Wallis, a resident of the Midtown neighborhood, on May 13, 2009 at 3:08 pm
Walter_E_Wallis is a member (registered user) of Palo Alto Online There should be a requirement for EFT that a responsible agent on the receiving end validates the receiver.
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Posted by Rita, a resident of another community, on May 13, 2009 at 3:36 pm And the money receiving person HAS TO BE FINGERPRINTED.
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