WARNING! Please Read! (Especially Grandparents)

Our granddaughter's "other" grandpa got a phone call today. The girl on the phone gave our granddaughter's name. She was crying hysterically, saying she was in Miami, got pulled over, was arrested, and needed $3,000 to get out of jail. She transferred the phone to "her lawyer" who said they couldn't take credit cards over the phone, so grandpa had to jump in the car and rush to Target and buy gift cards to send overnight to Miami to fix everything.

I know what you're thinking. How could any intelligent adult fall for this scam, but when you think your favorite grandchild is in trouble, you don't think clearly. Grandpa was actually in the car, ready to pull out of the driveway, before the warning bells went off in his head. He tried to call/text granddaughter, but she was at work, not taking calls. Finally, our daughter got a call from his daughter, asking if granddaughter was in Miami, which she was not. All is well, now, but grandpa was shaken to his bones over this. Granddaughter called after work to ease his mind, but it was still a horrible situation.

Here is the simple solution to all of these scams. Have a safe-word for all of your loved ones who don't live with you. If you ever get a desperate call from any one of them, just ask for the safe word. That's something these creeps won't be able to pull off Facebook.

My daughter is now 40 years old.  When she was small, there were a few publicly reported kidnappings and all the news' shows were telling parents to get together with their kids and think of a secret password that could be used if someone tried to contact either of us about something relating to the other (such as someone picking her up from school saying it was an emergency).  I still remember that password and my daughter and I still occasionally mention that password just in case.

yolos wrote:My daughter is now 40 years old.  When she was small, there were a few publicly reported kidnappings and all the news' shows were telling parents to get together with their kids and think of a secret password that could be used if someone tried to contact either of us about something relating to the other (such as someone picking her up from school saying it was an emergency).  I still remember that password and my daughter and I still occasionally mention that password just in case.

Daughter said the same thing to me. That safe word has now been revived and we're sharing it with the whole family. We live in very scary times.

A Safe Word sounds like a simple solution to a potentially scary situation or financial scam.

our safe word  is also paired to an under duress word
 
 But Munchkin doesn't use it as she text's most of the time .. Think I'll have a word with her in the morning .

We have one, haven’t thought about it for a while, but we know it.  Just need to remind!