Grandparents dig deep for fake grandsons

It seems that grandsons are getting into trouble all over the world, and Albuquerque grandparents are paying the price. The sad thing is that the “grandsons” are the worse kind of scam artists, capitalizing on people’s fears that a young relative might be in serious trouble and in need of financial help.

For example, the price tag for grandfather John I. Mondragon, after a series of four such phone calls: nearly $4,000.

For an Albuquerque woman who fell victim after one call: $900.

Both said the voice on the other end sounded just like their grandsons, and in both cases the supposed relative told stories of running into trouble when picked up by police in a foreign country.

Both victims said they wanted their stories told to help others foil wayward “grandsons.”

“I’m upset as hell,” Mondragon said. “I get upset every time I think about it. I want to tell all the people who get the Journal.” Here are their stories:

Mondragon’s caller claimed to be grandson Steven, who is stationed in Dubai but was supposedly at a wedding in the Domincan Republic and arrested on a DWI charge. Soon after that call, Mondragon got another from a Sgt. John Williams, who said “Steven” was “very shook up and scared” and needed $976 so he could bond out of jail pending trial. Mondragon sent it via Money-Gram. The next day, Williams called back to say “Steven” needed help paying a fine — to the tune of $998. Grandpa sent the money.

“By this time, I was very tired and thought I was finished, but that didn’t happen,” Mondragon said in a written account.

Several hours later, the pesky Sgt. Williams called yet again and Mondragon shelled out another $925 that “Steven” needed so he could fly from the Dominican Republic to Miami. But that’s not the end of the story. It seems the hapless “Steven” didn’t have the required “border release form,” without which he faced a return to Central America. Mondragon sent $950. That brought the total total tab to $3,849, not including the fees he had to pay to wire the payments.

It wasn’t until the next day that Mondragon’s wife called the real Steven, who was at his post in the United Arab Emirates with the Air Force National Guard — and had been the whole time.

In the case of the Albuquerque woman, her Seattle “grandson” called from Mexico saying he had been in a fender-bender and needed $900 so he could get out of jail. He didn’t want his dad, to know, though, so he asked her not to tell. She sent the money and didn’t call dad.

“I don’t know why in the hell I fell (for it), but I did,” she said. “I didn’t want him in a jail in Mexico, so that was the big hook.”

So-called grandson called again the next day needing $1,800 for something or other, and that’s when she said, “no” and checked with her real grandson only to find she had been “snookered.”

This kind of scam swindles about 10,000 grandparents a year, according to AARP.

Lois Browman, the 85-year-old grandmother of a colleague of mine got one of these calls, as did several of her friends, but she got wise to it quickly and didn’t lose any money.

She suggests this: When the caller says it’s your grandson, make up a name and say, “This is Johnny?” If the caller says, “yes,” but your grandson’s name is really Robert, you’ll know what to do. Hang up.

Another suggestion: Call your real grandson, and if that doesn’t work call a friend or family member to confirm whether there really is an emergency. Don’t give out any information, and never send money before determining whether the situation is real.