Scam artists still plaguing North Idaho

For the second time in less than a week, telephone predators tried to

scam a North Idaho grandma out of a substantial chunk of change.

An 81-year-old Cataldo woman told The Press she received a phone call

Tuesday morning. A crying female called her "grandma" and said she

needed help.

Big help — $12,000 worth of help.

The incident is nearly identical to one The Press reported Friday

involving a 77-year-old Hauser grandmother who was called by someone

pretending to be her grandson.

In each case, the grandmas were told their younger family members had

been arrested and were being held on drug charges in Niagara Falls.

They said they needed bond money.

In the Hauser case, it was $5,000.

The most recent near-victim is so shaken that she requested her name

be left out of the newspaper.

The Cataldo woman thought Tuesday's call could be for real, and

considered transferring funds from her savings account into her

checking account.

"It was conceivable that she had gone on a trip, although I thought it

was odd she didn't call to say, 'Goodbye,'" the grandma said.

During the call, a man got on the phone and posed as a Niagara Falls

police seargent. The officer suggested she use the services of a bail

bondsman who happened to be out of town this week — in Haiti.

That's when the grandma realized it could be a scam.

She was told she should split the $12,000 into two payments. She was

told to wire one as a Walmart Moneygram, and wire the other from the

Yoke's food market in Kellogg.

After hanging up, the woman made some phone calls and confirmed that

her granddaughter was safe and sound at her home in Southern Idaho.

A call to the police in Niagara Falls further confirmed the story was bogus.

The part that troubled the Cataldo woman the most was a second call

she received from the same people at 4 p.m. Tuesday afternoon. They

were looking for the funds.

"He said he knew I went to the bank, that I was followed and they saw

me withdraw a large amount of money," she said.

She never went out or near the bank that day.

"What if I had been in town? That was scary," she said.

She notified local law enforcement, but was told there is nothing they can do. - Maureen Dolan