TAMPA, FL (WFLA) – Scammers have come up with a new, terrifying, twist on what’s known as the Grandparent Scam. Rafael Caminero, of Tampa, knows all too well how scary and believable it can be.
He was staying alone at his daughter’s house recently when the phone rang. A sobbing voice on the other end pleaded for help. Thinking it was his son-in-law, he asked if it was Keith? The voice said yes and then said he needed to speak with his “lawyer.” That is when things went downhill quickly.
The man, who claimed to be David Thomas, said he was an attorney and that Caminero’s family had been in a terrible accident and Keith was in jail. Caminero was asked to send $2,000 to help bail Keith out of jail. When he said he couldn’t drive, the scammer sent a cab to pick him up and take him to a Western Union at a nearby Publix grocery store.
“He’s crying and saying, ‘”Dad, Dad, they have taken everything from me. They have taken my wallet,” Caminero said. “I had to try to get the money to him.”
It was all a lie, a new twist on a similar phone scam, but this scam kicks up the danger by involving a cab ride. Caminero’s daughter, Mary Ann is angry and saddened that some stranger tried to hurt her father.
“He gave them the address and left the door unlocked because he did not know where the key was and got into a cab. The cab could have been anybody,” Mary Ann said.
The family turned over the information, along with phone numbers for the scammer, to the Florida Attorney General’s Office for investigation.
