Phone scammers are working Manteca again.

They tried but couldn’t hook Carlene Petersen.

The Del Webb at Woodbridge resident wants to warn other grandparents in the Manteca area to be on guard for the “grandchild is in jail and needs bail” scam.

“They were very convincing,” Petersen said.

The call starts with an adult informing you that your grandchild has been caught in a car with two friends who had marijuana. In this case it was supposedly one of Peterson’s grandsons.

At one point in responding to inquiries, Peterson said she must have given the caller the name of one of her grandsons. After that a boy comes on the line. Thanks to “phone garble” the caller is able to pass himself off somewhat as her grandson. She’d told he needs help with bail and he doesn’t want his parents to find out. He pleads with his grandmother to send $2,000.

The first person comes back on the line and suggests she can go down to Western Union or Wal-Mart and wire the $2,000. She suggests using an address in Ghana to avoid the bail “showing up” to create a paper trail somehow implicating her grandson.

At this point her suspicions are confirmed. She asks for a call back number in case they are disconnected. Petersen calls the number and gets a recording for an advertisement.

The caller keeps calling back until he gets her again. He wanted to know why she didn’t answer the phone. She tells them she had called her grandson and was talking to him.

Before Petersen can give the caller a piece of her mind, he hangs up.

“I just want other grandparents to know that there is a scam out there,” She said. “Grandparents always want to do right by their grandkids,” Petersen said.

By chance today’s paper includes a story about three Manteca residents arrested on charges of using phone calls to scam victims out of money but instead of using Ghana they use Nigeria as the place to wire fund.



Senior Health

Fair Aug. 20

Kudos to Brookdale-Manteca, the Commons at Union Ranch, Prestige Senior Living, and Manteca Care and Rehabilitation for sponsoring the upcoming 2015 Health & Wellness Fair taking place at the Manteca Senior Center, 295 Cherry Lane.

It is set for  Thursday, Aug. 20, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

If you call 456.8650 by Monday, Aug, 10, you can reserve a free lunch that will be served from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. There will be free information and resources designed to enhance and support the daily living, health and interests of seniors.

There are more than 30 vendors. Space for vendors is still available.



To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com