Con artists will say anything to part older people from their money, but least in one case, NBC 5 Responds was able to help get some of the money back.
Coydell and Grace Isaac spend their Wednesdays delivering meals on wheels. Each has a big heart, especially for family, so when 88-year-old Grace woke up to a call that her grandson was in trouble, she was beside herself.
"This person on the phone said, 'Granny, granny, please help me. I'm in trouble. I was involved in an accident,'" Grace said.
The caller claimed to be her grandson in jail. It wasn't.
"I was just thinking that my grandson was in trouble and my wife knew the sound of his voice, so I was just assured of the fact that that was my grandson in trouble," 89-year-old Coydell said.
The crooks said the Isaacs would need to provide $4,000 in iTunes gift cards to get their grandson out of jail. The Isaacs didn't know what iTunes was.
"We immediately went to CVS and purchased the cards, just as we were instructed," said Coydell.
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They read the crooks the numbers on the back and mailed the cards, only to realize later they'd been duped.
"We've been had really," Grace said. "That's it. Out of $4000."
The Isaacs accidentally sent the cards to the wrong address. All the cards were returned. Their daughter, Coy Jackson, called iTunes.
"We went through all eight, and out of the eight, there were three that were used," Jackson said. "They were depleted to zero, which meant we had $2,500 left."
But when Jackson asked for a refund, she said Apple declined and told her to talk to CVS. She said CVS also declined, meaning the Isaacs were stuck with $2,500 in iTunes cards they'd never use.
But days after NBC5 Responds got involved, we were able to get the Isaacs their refund. Apple told us it's up to the retailer whether to offer a refund in these cases.
"We have confirmed with Apple that they were able to stop payment on $2500 in iTunes gift cards, so we will be able to refund the Isaacs for that amount," CVS officials said in a statement.
CVS officials said some employees, who remembered the Isaacs, tried to convince them not to buy the cards. They also sent a picture showing efforts to warn consumers about potential fraud.
"Our employees receive training on recognizing warning signs, including purchases involving large dollar amounts and customers who are purchasing cards for someone they don't know," the company stated.
Those are good warning signs for consumers too. Never buy someone you don't know any gift cards and especially not in large amounts.
CVS' full statement:
"We have been in touch with Coy Jackson and we have confirmed with Apple that they were able to stop payment on $2500 in iTunes gift cards purchased by the Isaacs. So we will be able to refund the Isaacs for that amount.
"Gift card and prepaid card scams are a challenge to all retailers. Our employees receive training on recognizing warning signs of these scams, including purchases involving large dollar amounts and customers who are purchasing cards for someone they don't know."
In fact, CVS store employees warned the Isaacs against making such large gift card purchases last December. We have a strong record of trying to prevent our customers from falling victim to prepaid card and gift card scams:
patch.com/michigan/bloomfield-mi/elderly-resident-loses-1150-phone-scam
We also have signage in our prepaid card displays advising customers to be aware of such scams (see attached). We highly recommend that customers protect themselves from scams by never providing any prepaid card information to someone they don't know and to refuse any offer that asks them to buy prepaid cards.
