Cis Stanley and her son Drew were not taken in last week by scammers impersonating her grandson and asking for money. (David Hart photo) KINGFIELD –- It appears that more often than ever we’re hearing about scams where criminals are trying to persuade someone to reveal their financial information or send money. It’s frustrating to think that sometimes the elderly and others do in fact fall for it.

The latest scam that’s been drifting across the country is called by officials the “grandson scam” or sometimes the “it’s me” scam. Reports suggest that most of these complaints were originating from either the Montreal or Toronto areas.

Last week Kingfield resident Cis Stanley was targeted. Instead, she and her son, Drew, discovered that a series of calls she received from Montreal were part of a scam and the pair had a little fun scamming the scammer.

Scams of this sort usually occur by phone as it did last week in Kingfield. The caller identifies himself as the elderly victim’s grandson if the criminal can research family trees. Other times the scammer, trying to get a name out of the elderly, just says “it’s me.” The victim might then re- spond, “Hi Jonny.”

The scammers then say they’re in some form of trouble and need money wired to them. Examples of the “trouble” include being in an accident, credit card not working, being arrested or in the case of the Stanleys, being stuck in an attorney’s office and in need of money. In all cases they’re looking to bond with dear old grandma and entice the grandmother to help.

Drew Stanley said they do two things to try to isolate the victim. They first ask if they’re home alone and ask that they don’t tell their mom or dad. “They always want to keep you off-balance.”

Drew said he was not with his mother during the first call and the scammers were quite convincing. They actually used the real name of her grandson and requested $4,500 to be electronically wired from a Wal-Mart. Scammers said they were in Montreal and needed immediate cash. After call number one, Cis said she’ll do it. “Mom loves her grandchildren and would do anything for them,” Drew said.

When Drew arrived he became suspicious of the caller’s request and they decided to call her real grandson on his cell phone. The real grandson then told them that he spent the day snowboarding out west; he was not in Canada and had no intention of going north of the border.

The scammer called back again and Cis and Drew thought they’d have a little fun and string them along. She told the fake grandson she was on her way to Wal-Mart to send all of the cash requested. They called again and the Stanleys didn’t answer in an effort to simulate that they were on way to Wal-Mart. This prompted several other calls well into the next day. At one point, Cis told the scammer that she had sent the money. They in turn asked her for the eight-digit money transfer number and she rattled off eight random numbers.

Having never left Kingfield, the calls concluded the next day when the scammers asked why the money was not sent. Cis ended the round of calls by saying, “No, I did not send it.” “I can’t send money to a liar and a thief. I suggest you get into another line of work,” she said. “You’re not very good at this one.”

Drew said the scam artists then hung up.

“We have to assume right up front that the call is fake,” said Lt. Niles Yeaton of the Franklin County Sheriff’s Department Monday when asked about these calls. “We should never wire money to anyone without verifying who it is,” he added. “Don’t do it.”

Yeaton said that people are encouraged to call the authorities when they get scammed or even if it’s just an attempt or if they are suspicious in any way.