Prescott Police continue to receive complaints about a scam involving relatives in jail in Canada and other places that need money immediately. Our residents tend to be called late at night and are presented with an urgent story about a distant relative who needs immediate bond money due to being arrested. The caller will usually ask for money sent via a money transfer or credit card.

The basic setup of this and other similar schemes is that the scammer gleans just enough information about a family member (e.g., names, ages, addresses, phone number) to be able to impersonate one of them during a brief phone call to another family member. The scammer will place a call and claim to be in some form of distress (e.g., a victim of legal problems, theft, or fouled-up travel arrangements) that has left him/her stranded far from home and is in desperate need of someone to wire him/her some cash. In many cases, eager-to-help relatives will promptly send money as instructed, not realizing until it is too late that the person they have been talking to is an impersonator and not a genuine family member (grandparents are particularly common targets of this scam as they may be easily fooled because they often have only sporadic contact with their grown grandchildren and therefore may not be very familiar with a particular grandchild’s adult voice and may not have current information about the grandchild’s whereabouts or activities.)

Should you receive one of these calls, please do not panic. We recommend three simple steps to prevent you from being a victim of a crime:

Ask for the location and phone number the caller is calling from and state you plan to call them back shortly.

Repeat and verify the relative’s name and relationship to you with the caller.

Contact the relative alleged to be in jail before sending any money to anyone. At this point, you should be able to determine if this call is an actual family emergency and proceed if necessary.

If you have any questions as to the authenticity of the situation, you may contact the Crime Prevention Section at (928) 777-1967 or the Prescott Police Department’s non-emergency number at (928) 445-3131.