Some South Hills communities have recently reported "grandparent scams," at least one of which was successful.

The scam usually begins when a male caller, identifying himself as the person's grandson, claims he is involved in an emergency situation and asks for money.

That's what happened to an elderly resident in Pleasant Hills in early February, police Chief Ed Cunningham said.

A person called the resident, said he was the resident's grandson, had been arrested in Canada and needed bail money to get out of jail. The worried grandparent immediately sent money through a Western Union wire transfer to a person posing as the grandson's attorney, Mr. Cunningham said.

He would not reveal the amount of money sent but said it was in the thousands.

After the first wire transfer was sent, the "grandson" called a second time and said he had been released from jail but was stopped at the border and needed more money to pay immigration to enter the United States.

The resident again wired money, but then called another family member and discovered the grandson was at home, not in Canada. Western Union was able to stop the second transfer before it went through, Mr. Cunningham said.

The Castle Shannon police department reported two similar incidents, one in January and the other in February, in which a young male caller called an older resident, claimed to be in trouble and asked for a wire transfer. One of the transfers was thwarted by a misspelling on the wire transfer note, and the other prevented when the grandparent called family to check on the grandson.

"Something like this, unfortunately, works," Castle Shannon police Chief Ken Truver said, and the scammers usually ask for sums of $2,000 to $3,000.

It's unclear how the callers determine which numbers to call to find grandparents, but Mr. Truver said they may target states and counties that they know to have older populations.

"We don't know if this is random, or if they've hacked into some database where they have that information," Mr. Cunningham said.

To avoid being a victim of a grandparent scam, police recommend asking the person claiming to be the grandchild for the name, verify the emergency by contacting another family member and treat all requests for wire transfers as suspicious. Questionable calls should be reported to the police by calling 911.

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