Cumberland Township Police are warning the community of a current scam targeting elderly citizens.
An elderly female reported that she was almost the victim of a scam phone call. The caller pretended to be her grandson and told her he was in a vehicle crash. The caller used high pressure tactics and claimed that he only had a few moments to speak to give her a phone number to his public defender. The victim called the public defender and he explained the grandson needed bail money. The scammer attempted to get $9000 from the victim and when she said she could only get $4000 he said that would be enough.
The victim was directed to PNC Bank in Gettysburg to deposit the cash into an ATM and to not speak with any bank personnel as they could cause problems with the transaction. The scammer provided the victim with an access code to deposit the cash. The ATM malfunctioned and did not accept the cash. The victim was directed to another PNC ATM to which she became suspicious and called her real grandson and confirmed he was OK. The victim came to the CTPD station to report the scam. Officers contacted local PNC bank personnel and they are notifying their fraud investigation department.
The victim asked Officers to prepare a press release to make the public aware of this scam.