Police issue alert about telephone solicitations

Lower Pottsgrove Police are warning residents about a telephone scam targeting senior citizens.

LOWER POTTSGROVE >> Lower Pottsgrove Police are warning residents about a phone scam affecting the area.

According to an online post from police, several phone scam reports have been made involving suspects that appear to target the elderly.

Police said suspects claim to be a grandchild that has been arrested and a second suspect typically comes on the phone and claims to be a police officer or an attorney for the child.

The suspects then tell the victims to send gift cards in different amounts from several stores in order to “bail” their grandchild out of jail.

The victim is then expected to provide the gift card number and PIN number on the back of the card.

Once the initial gift cards are received, the suspects generally call and ask for more gift cards for various reasons.

Police added that the suspect pretending to be the victim’s grandchild will sometimes tell the victim not to disclose to the various stores their reasons for buying the gift cards.

Police are asking that anyone who thinks they may have been affected by this scam to call authorities immediately.

“We also ask that you immediately check with the businesses that issued the gift cards to see if the funds are still available on those gift cards. Some businesses will freeze the cards, while others are willing to transfer the funds to a new gift card to prevent the actors from gaining access to the funds,” police said.

Lower Pottsgrove Police can be reached at 610-326-1508.