Crysta Willis was targeted by a scam that preys on older adults and grandparents by falsely claiming a grandchild is in an emergency. Although initially stunned by the caller’s shocking demands, Willis quickly used her intelligence and fought back, successfully avoiding the trap.

“He says, ‘I’m the deputy somebody, and your grandson was in an accident. He’s at fault and you need to pay his bond for him to get out,’” she told Aging Untold.

Willis wasn’t the right grandmother to target with a scam. The caller demanded she immediately wire $5,000 to prevent her grandson from being jailed for the entire weekend, but this grandma struck back.

The grandmother, aware that her 20-year-old grandson had not been involved in an accident or incarcerated, refused to be duped.

“And I’m thinking to myself in the back of my head, this is going to be really cute because I know for sure my grandson is upstairs, but I’m gonna go with this,” she recounted.

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Willis, who serves as the director for community outreach with the Western Reserve Area Agency on Aging, is also involved with the Cuyahoga County Scam Squad.

The caller refused to identify himself or the specific sheriff’s department he claimed to represent, even as she kept him on the line, trying to elicit more details.

Willis didn’t just try to get information from the scammer as she remarked, “You’re approaching seniors that’s frail to get money. How is that OK?”

He began to panic after she angrily confronted him.

“He was like, ‘Well you just don’t understand, it’s hard out there,’” Willis stated.

According to Cleveland 19, these scams caused 450 victims to lose $6.5 million in 2021.

Susan Licate of the FBI’s Cleveland office said criminals employ a consistent method after contacting a compassionate grandparent via text or phone. The playbook takes advantage of the grandparent’s strong desire to assist when they believe a relative is in distress.

“Maybe they’re arrested, maybe they’ve been in an accident or perhaps stranded on the side of the road and need money, and they need money now. And that’s when the scam starts,” Licate remarked.

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Licate commended Willis for her sensible approach: questioning the situation before immediately providing the requested money. 

Licate said, “That first call that you make should be to the person who is purported to be in trouble to verify if they are in fact stranded on the side of the road, in the hospital, in jail, or have been detained or arrested or whatnot.”

She stressed the importance of reporting scams quickly, saying it greatly increases the chance of getting back lost money, particularly if the money was wired to fraudsters. 

She noted that “If it is reported to ic3.gov within three days, there’s about an 80% chance of us to recover most of those funds for the victim.”

Filing a report, even after the initial three-day period, is crucial.

As Licate explained, this action “helps the FBI connect the dots all across the country because it’s important to know that these criminal actors, they’re usually not working alone. This is a criminal network.”

Willis reflected on the emotional toll, stating, “I’m just thinking in the back of my head, how many seniors fall for this and just give up their life savings for something like this and they’re just trying to help their grandchild.”

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