The Tooele County Sheriff’s Office has recently uncovered a scam that targets the elderly and leaves them without much recourse in getting back thousands of dollars.

On March 11, an 81-year-old Rush Valley resident received a phone call from a male caller who identified himself as her grandson. The man said he had been in an accident in Canada and needed money to bail out of jail and pay for the damaged vehicle, according to Sgt. Brad Patch of the Tooele County Sheriff’s Office.

The woman went to Key Bank in Tooele and withdrew the funds, then went to Albertson’s and wired $4,335 to Montreal, Canada.

When the woman didn’t receive a call from her grandson after sending the money, she called him and was shocked to find that he had not been in Canada and had no idea what she was talking about, Patch said. When she called after her money, she learned that it had already been collected.

“That all happened in a matter of hours,” Patch said.

One day later, a 79-year-old Rush Valley resident was contacted by an individual who called him “grandpa” and said he was in jail in Canada. The elderly man inquired as to whether the caller was a particular son-in-law, calling him by name, to which the caller said ‘yes.’ The caller then proceeded to ask the elderly man to wire $3,800 to post bail, stating that he would pay him back when he was in town, according to Patch.

The Rush Valley man went to Wal-Mart and wired the money, and later received a phone call from his “relative” again to confirm that the money had been sent.

The elderly man called his daughter the next day to see if her husband had made it home yet, and learned that her husband hadn’t gone anywhere. The man then notified police.

Patch believes it’s pure coincidence that both victims were from Rush Valley.

“It’s a great big scam going on in Canada,” Patch said. “Most of the time it’s ‘I’ve been in an accident and put in jail. My attorney is in court right now but he’ll call you in a little while.’ Then another person will call back later and say he needs the confirmation number to pick up the money.”

Patch said typically in these types of cases the scammer will have a fake ID waiting for a name to be printed on it. After fishing for information during the phone call, the name will be put on the ID and then the scammer will just wait for the confirmation number, which will enable the pickup to happen.

“Each time these calls were made it was from a private number,” Patch said. “There’s no number to trace. Once they get the money they are gone. It’s a pretty lucrative business.”

Unfortunately, the elderly are a common target for all types of scams.

Joyce Rigby, supervisor of the Tooele Senior Citizen Center, said she hasn’t caught wind of any scams affecting local seniors, although last year a few fell victim to a roof scam. The scam consisted of elderly residents being convinced they need new shingles and paying the money for repairs only to never have the service provided.

“Seniors are targeted because they are vulnerable,” Rigby said, who added seniors also tend to be more trusting. “They think they are still back in their younger years when they left the door open and they left the keys in the car. They tend to believe everything they hear.”

Patch recommends that seniors question everything before acting to prevent from being victimized.

“It’s not a good idea to do any monetary transactions over the telephone,” Patch said. “Don’t rush into it. Do a little investigation of your own, find out if there really is anyone in trouble.”

Because these recent scams are international, little can be done by the Sheriff’s Office in terms of investigation. The two aforementioned cases were turned over the Secret Service to follow up on, Patch said.

“The chance of these people getting their money back is slim,” Patch said.

Jamie Belnap: jamieb@tooeletranscript.com