Walmart saves grandpa's money

COEUR d'ALENE - Dieter Schwake would do anything to protect his granddaughter, just like most grandparents.

Telephone swindlers were banking on that kind of unconditional love Friday when they called Schwake at his Hayden home, and tried to scam the 71-year-old out of $5,800.

The grifters almost made it to the bank with Schwake's money. He nearly fell victim to what has become, in recent months in Kootenai County, a common telephone ruse aimed at seniors with grandchildren.

"Walmart bailed me out," Schwake told The Press on Monday.

It was actually a quick-thinking Walmart employee at the newly opened big-box store in Hayden that kept Schwake from parting with his funds, permanently.

He went to the Walmart store with $5,800 in cash on Friday, after receiving a call from a distressed young woman posing as his granddaughter.

A Walmart employee named Blake helped Schwake set up a wire for the funds Schwake believed his grandchild needed to get out of jail in Toronto.

"If it was a scam, I thought I'd be out the money, but if there's a 20 percent chance it's true, I figured it's worth it," Schwake said.

He couldn't contact his granddaughter to check out the story because he didn't have her phone number. His daughter, the child's mother, was unavailable by phone.

Schwake thought the money had to be sent immediately if his granddaughter was going to be released in time to make the return flight home at 11 a.m. the next morning.

Hours after leaving the Hayden store with a receipt for the completed transaction, Schwake learned his granddaughter was nowhere near Toronto, but right where she was supposed to be, in Pullman, Wash., attending her freshman semester at Washington State University.

The grandfather realized he had been conned.

"I knew it wasn't like her to do something like that, but I thought, first year of college, first time away from home, sometimes there's a little spreading of the wings," Schwake said.

He called the Walmart customer service counter immediately, and spoke with Blake again. He asked if it was too late to stop the wire.

"Blake said, 'Well, after you left, I remembered something about a scam from Canada,'" Schwake said.

The Walmart employee told Schwake he then contacted the people at MoneyGram about the pending wire, and they put a stop on it.

"He told me I could come back and pick up my money," Schwake said.

Schwake returned to the store, and Blake gave him back his $5,800 in cash.

The grandfather was so grateful, he put $500 cash on the counter and told Blake he wanted him to have it.

The Walmart employee told Schwake he could not accept the money.

Schwake left the store, leaving the $500 on the customer service counter.

"I meant for the kid to have it," Schwake said.

Later, Bruce, an assistant manager from the store, called Schwake and told him Blake could not accept the money, so Schwake returned to the store to get it.

He contacted The Press because he was so impressed with Blake's quick-thinking and integrity.

Neither Blake, nor Bruce would give Schwake their last names.

Ashley Hardy, a spokesperson from Walmart's corporate headquarters, said the company would not accommodate any requests for interviews with the helpful employees, or discuss the matter further.

"Our associates assist our customers every day," Hardy said.

Schwake said his wife, Martha, staunchly opposed the opening of the Hayden Walmart, the third in Kootenai County, and said it was bad for the local businesses.

"Now, she's looking at it differently," Schwake said. "She realizes there are real people working there."

The Better Business Bureau issued a national alert earlier this year about the so-called "Grandparent Scam."

To anyone who receives a call from someone claiming to be their grandchild in distress, BBB advises not to disclose any information before confirming it really is the grandchild. If a caller says "It's me, grandma!" don't respond with a name but instead let the caller explain who he or she is. One easy way to confirm their identity is to ask a simple question that a grandchild would know such as what school he or she goes to or their middle name.

Schwake said the caller had his granddaughter's name already. He believes the con-artists may have gotten it somehow from Facebook.

The story seemed plausible to Schwake. He was led to believe his granddaughter had received a free ticket to fly with a college friend to Toronto to visit the girl's family there. The story Schwake heard was that a friend picked the girls up at the airport, and was then pulled over by police who found cocaine in the vehicle, landing his granddaughter in jail through no fault of her own.

BBB recommends that anyone who falls victim to the scam should report the incident immediately to local police and their state Attorney General's office.

Schwake filed a report with the Kootenai County Sheriff's Office.

If there is a request to wire money to Canada, the Canadian Anti-Fraud Call Centre has established the PhoneBusters hotline and website to report such fraud. Reports can be filed easily online through the PhoneBusters site at: www.phonebusters.com, or by phone, toll free at, (888) 495-8501.