SCAMS: 'Tis always the season

My wife, Gladys, was the intended victim of a new phone scam twice this morning. Both callers had thick India-sounding accents.

They claimed to be calling for the Government Grant Department to tell her that she had been granted thousands of dollars. The first call told her she was entitled to $7,000. The second call was for $9,200.

After listening to the first call Gladys told them not to call her again. However, a couple of hours later, she received the second call.

I picked up the other phone to listen in. They already had her name and address as well as the phone number.

She was told that to collect her grant, she needed to call (202) 697-9743.

We decided to play along to hear the rest of their pitch. Another man, with the same thick accent, told us there were three ways she could receive the money; that was to give them the number to her checking or savings account or, if she did not have a bank account, to send $200 by a Green Dot Moneypack.

Gladys then told him, “Shame on you. God is not pleased with you.” This confused the guy and he said he did not understand, so she repeated it. I then cut in to ask if this was the phone number for me to report to the FCC and the Attorney General. He quickly hung up.

I did a reverse phone number lookup and found the call was from Hyattsville, Md. It did not give a name, but showed the call was from a Skype VoIP phone.

I called the Cd’A Police Department and left a message on the scam.

ED TORRENCE

Coeur d’Alene