Arlington Heights police issue phone scam alerts

Arlington Heights police issued two alerts Monday after a pair of residents reported being victims of telephone scams.

In one case, an 82-year-old woman said she wired more than $5,000 to people who called her home claiming to be her grandson and his lawyer in need of money because the grandson had been in an out-of-state automobile crash in which a person and an unborn child were killed, police said. The woman later called her daughter and realized she had been scammed.

Police said anyone receiving calls like these should obtain as much information as possible about the call and caller, call family members and verify that they are home and were not involved in an accident, send no money and report the incident to the police department.

In the second case, a resident gave out a credit-card number over the phone to someone claiming to be from a “credit card company” informing him his card was being used at various retailers. Later the victim realized his error and called his credit card company learning his credit card was used for several purchases totaling a couple hundred dollars, police said.