Grandparents scam makes its way to Connorsville
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By Amber Hayden
CONNORSVILLE – It’s been a little over a month since the last article regarding a scam hitting grandparents, but it seems to have happened again according to Virgil (87) and Patricia (86) Schoonover.
Virgil has been part of the Connorsville community since the fall of 1945 when their home and Schoon-Haven Holsteins farm was established.
Virgil explained that last Tuesday morning, February 19, they received a phone call which Patricia had answered concerning their grandson.
“She pointed at me to pick up the other phone, and said it’s about Josh,” Virgil said.
A man was on the line who identified himself as the couple’s grandson, Josh Drieger, and said he had done a dumb thing and backed up into an unmarked police vehicle while holding his phone in his hand and was currently being held at the jail.
What was disconcerting to the couple was how much the voice on the other end of the line sounded like their grandson, Virgil explained.
After a few minutes of speaking with whom they thought was Josh, a woman by the name of Amy came on the line and said she was given the authority to set up the bail for their grandson, and that if they were able to get the money together, she could still get Josh out that day.
“That sent up a red flag,” Virgil said. “I don’t think that’s how it works honestly.”
The amount that the woman asked for was $9,700 and said once they got the money together to call her so she was able to send a courier to their home and pick up the money, but they were not to speak to anyone at all throughout the process.
And for Virgil that was the second red flag that went up, mostly because his grandson Josh is a police officer.
One thing Virgil didn’t understand was how they had gotten his number, or even how they had an idea of where he lived. Virgil believes that people tend to know too much about one another and what is able to be accessed.
The woman who had identified herself as “Amy” called back later in the evening and was upset that they had yet to do as she asked so she could send the courier to pick up the funds, Virgil stated. But before any of this, they had made a trip to speak with Josh’s parents about the ordeal.
“We went and saw Josh’s parents in Menomonie, Nora and Dennis, to ask them about all of it,” he explained. “His mom was not happy at all, but they called Josh just in case to make sure everything was OK.”
When the couple’s grandson got on the phone he had explained it wasn’t him as he had been in court all day in Eau Claire over someone contesting a ticket he had issued several days prior to this.
“I don’t think they realized they were dealing with someone who was a policeman,” Virgil commented.
Virgil said he had spoke to a woman from the telephone company and she had explained to him her opinion of grandparents having more money and being more gullible than the grandchild’s parents.
For Virgil and Patricia, the most important part of the entire experience is to bring awareness to people who are older and have grandchildren.
For the couple, the awareness is the biggest part of telling their story. If they help one person not to be scammed, they feel they have done their due diligence.
“The more you can keep these things out in front of people, maybe they will listen a little more to it. I hope people pay a little more attention before they hand over any information over the phone,” Schoonover said.
The article about Bob Bartz and his grandson Ben was in the January 16 issue of the Tribune Press Reporter, Bartz explained he had received a phone call from Ben asking for help in the sum of $8,000 because he had been arrested.
