Local citizen warns about scam

At least one Albany resident has been approached recently by phone scammers, and he is warning other local residents to be on the alert.

Sam Burge said that he and his wife Dimple received a call a couple of weeks ago informing them that their grandson had been arrested and needed money for legal fees. They were asked for credit card information.

“They had a lot of personal information about both us and our grandson,” said Burge. “They knew his name, our names, that he was a Marine, and where he is stationed.” 

The caller at first identified himself as the grandson, claiming that he had been a passenger in a car where drugs were found. He then “gave” the phone to a man he said was his attorney.

“Other than the fact that we knew it wasn’t our grandson because it didn’t sound anything like him, and we knew he wouldn’t be involved in something like that, it was pretty convincing,” said Burge. “Besides, we had just talked to our grandson a little while before the call.”

Burge’s telephone provider told him later that the call was from overseas and even gave him the name of the “attorney.”

“The number was blocked, so we couldn’t tell from that,” said Burge.

He added that he felt local residents need to be warned about the scam.

“People need to be careful, especially when scammers have that much personal information,” said Burge.