Breaking: Playoff football game postponed indefinitely as GHSA-Gainesville saga continues
Metro Atlanta
Metro Atlanta

Cobb cops warn of phone scam with crooks pretending to be grandkids

Channel 2's Rikki Klaus spoke with the victim's daughter who first realized the person calling her mother was a scammer.
By Ben Brasch
Feb 22, 2018

Most grandparents love calls from their grandchildren, and scammers know it.

Police in Cobb County are warning about a trick aimed at seniors.

Scammers call seniors acting as their grandchildren claiming to be in jail and needing bail money, cops said.

The ne’er-do-wells nag folks to send funds and/or give account information to prepaid debit cards.

READ | 10 financial scams targeting seniors and how to avoid them

READ | Scam alert: Cobb officials warn of a new utility fraud scheme

READ | Topgolf-like facility set for Marietta after city OKs $9.5M land sale

Cops suggested that if you receive a call from someone claiming to be a friend or relative in jail needing bail money, don’t send the money right away. Instead, verify with the arresting agency and or others who know the person.

According to the most recent U.S. Census data from 2010, about 13½ percent of Cobb's  population was age 60 or older.

Like Cobb County News Now on Facebook | Follow us on Twitter

About the Author

Ben Brasch is the reporter tasked with keeping Fulton County government accountable. The Florida native moved to Atlanta for a job with The AJC. If there's something important to you going on in Fulton, he wants to know about it. Help him better metro Atlanta by dropping a line, anonymously or otherwise.

Follow Ben Brasch on twitter
More Stories

Keep Reading

Georgia State students bundle up as they cross the campus greenway earlier this month. Temperatures are taking another dip for Thanksgiving, with lows in the 30s and highs in the 40s and 50s around Atlanta. (Miguel Martinez/AJC)

Credit: Miguel Martinez-Jimenez

Thanksgiving to bring chilly, dry, overall delightful weather to metro Atlanta

A big drop in temperatures is coming overnight Wednesday, so go ahead and pull out those flannels and blankets.

Stabbings at Buckhead high-rise, Vivide nightclub turn deadly

Separate stabbings that left two men dead sent Atlanta police flying across the city in the early morning hours Wednesday.

Man locked up for 23 years despite evidence proving his innocence, lawsuit says

Although investigators had reason to believe Bharadia wasn’t involved in the crime, they pushed forward with a case against him anyway, the lawsuit says.

The Latest

Sonny Bharadia, who spent more than two decades behind bars for a 2001 crime he did not commit, is suing the small town of Thunderbolt and the two law enforcement officers who handled his case. (Courtesy of Georgia Innocence Project)

Credit: Georgia Innocence Project

Man locked up for 23 years despite evidence proving his innocence, lawsuit says

Stabbings at Buckhead high-rise, Vivide nightclub turn deadly

Thanksgiving to bring chilly, dry, overall delightful weather to metro Atlanta

Featured

Atlanta art and antiques appraiser and auctioneer Allan Baitcher (right) takes bids during a 2020 auction. Baitcher and his company, Peachtree Antiques, are being sued by a Florida multimillionaire who says he paid them $20 million for fakes. (AJC 2020)

Credit: Phil Skinner / Staff

Atlanta antique appraiser made $20M selling fakes, lawsuit says

An Atlanta art and antique appraiser is being sued by a Florida multimillionaire, who says he spent about $20 million on thousands of fake works.

How an ex-Texan and a university helped change the face of a Georgia city

Mercer University President Bill Underwood is stepping down after two decades at the helm. He's credited with boosting enrollment, resurrecting football and reshaping Macon.

Thanksgiving to bring chilly, dry, overall delightful weather to metro Atlanta

A big drop in temperatures is coming overnight Wednesday, so go ahead and pull out those flannels and blankets.