Gift Card Scam Targets Man's Grandma

An 82-year-old grandma became the victim of a gift card scam and now her grandson is warning others. Corey Hayward knew something was suspicious when his grandma mentioned paying lawyers for a car accident he was supposedly in.

But Corey was never in a car accident. After digging a little deeper, he found out the sad truth that his grandma had been the victim of scammers. They told the woman that Corey had been involved in a fatal car crash and they needed to be paid in order to keep him out of jail. The scammers asked Grandma to purchase thousands of dollars worth of gift cards and provide them with the card numbers over the phone.

"You wouldn't pay a lawyer with Best Buy gift cards, so I immediately knew something was wrong here," Corey said. These smart scammers even went as far as asking the woman to shred the receipts so that there was no record of her transactions. Thankfully, she kept some of the records and Corey has evidence of over $27,000 in gift card purchases.

"They took her whole savings. She's broke. She has no money, and she's taking care of my grandfather who is very, very sick. She was just the perfect target," he said.

It’s truly upsetting to know that these scammers swindled such an innocent woman, but Corey is hoping that sharing the story will protect others from a similar situation. Please take heed of this warning and be sure to let your elderly friends and relatives know of this dangerous scam.

Source: WCVB Channel 5 Boston