Pocono News Section

Elderly Woman Avoids Phone Scam

Elderly Woman Avoids Phone Scam - Wednesday, June 9, 2010 at 04:22AM EST

Reported by: Jeremy Deebel
Wednesday June 09 2010
LOCK HAVEN, CLINTON COUNTY- An elderly woman in Clinton County has a warning after she almost got scammed.

When 83-year-old Josephine Hartman got a call that her only grandson, Darren, was locked up in Canada and needed money, she immediately jumped to help. Hartman, of Lock Haven, gathered the $1,900 the impostor said he needed, and headed to a local Western Union.

Hartman explained, "The kid sounded just like Darren, see, and that's my only grandson. And I love him to death."

Thankfully, she found out it was all just a scam before it was too late. Her daughter-in-law, Barbara Whorl, says an employee at the Western Union wasn't fooled.

Whorl, of Avis, noted, "This most wonderful young man, who I've never met before, named Peter, refused to send her money. He said, 'Ma'am, I won't do this. That's a scam.'"

The family was eventually able to reach Darren on the phone and were assured he was just fine.

Josephine says the scammers called at least six times. Once she informed them that she had talked to her grandson and knew he was OK, they never called again.

Barbara Whorl was able to use *69 to track the number the last time the scammers called. To her surprise it came up local to the Lock Haven area, but with no address listed.

We tried the number, and an automated voice on the other end of the line kept repeating, "please enter your pin number now..."

Barbara Whorl says police told her they couldn't help because no money was transferred. But she argues that's not good enough.

Whorl said, "Somebody has to be able to do something. With all the technology we have today, you can't tell me that I have a 263-4014 phone number, and nobody can go rap on that door in less than 24 hours. But I got nowhere with the police and that's why I called you."

Now Josephine Hartman wants to make sure no one else gets conned.

She added, "Hell I'm 83 years old, I don't have that kind of money. And I always hang up on them or I tell them I don't have it. I think people should know there's a lot of people trying to get money out of them."

We also attempted to contact Lock Haven police, but our calls went un-returned. At our suggestion, Barbara Whorl says she will be reporting the scam to the state Attorney General's office.