To the Editor:

This past week we received a call that alarmed us which we want people to know about.

Our phone rang, my wife Kathy answered and the caller was our grandson Elliott (or so it seemed). The conversation proceeded with discussions about his upcoming visit around the Fourth and his delight in shooting fireworks. At one point she said that his voice was a little different to which he responded “I have a cold.”

Shortly after, the conversation changed. He sounded stressed, saying, “I’m crying. I’m in jail.” He proceeded to say that he was driving, hit a pregnant woman who was now in the hospital and he had been arrested.

Kathy encouraged Elliott to call his parents. He responded in a frantic, “No, no, no!” He said there was a $75,000 fine, but he needed 10% for bail!

By that time Kathy was distressed but also suspicious. She reiterated, “Elliott, you have to call your parents!” The caller hung up.

This was a scam but it was alarming because the caller sounded for all the world like Elliott. The conversation was initially completely consistent with what we would expect from our grandson – until the issue of money came up and the refusal to call the parents.

Experts tell me that with today’s technology scammers only need a 3-second sample of a person’s voice to recreate a believable conversation from that person (we have no idea how they could have gotten such a sample).

One simple move to verify a questionable call is to ask the caller to give you a phone number so you can call them right back. A legitimate caller should have no hesitation about doing this but a scammer will either refuse or will hang up.

Best wishes, good luck. We live in a dangerous world.

Dr. Tom Dean
Wessington Springs