Poland: Elderly residents thwart ‘grandchild’ impersonation scams

Multiple recent incidents in Poland highlight the persistence of the ‘grandchild scam,’ where fraudsters impersonate family members to extort money from the elderly through emotional manipulation and urgency.

In Łomża, an 89-year-old woman prepared $4,000 in cash to be delivered to a supposed granddaughter who claimed to have caused a car accident. The scam was thwarted by a 27-year-old ride-hailing driver who noticed the woman’s extreme panic and received suspicious, urgent messages from the supposed requester. The driver contacted emergency services after noticing the client attempted to pay a fee five times higher than the standard rate.

In a separate incident in Głogów Małopolski, a 97-year-old woman successfully resisted an attempt to steal 150,000 PLN. A caller claiming to be her granddaughter stated she was in a hospital and required urgent funds for a specialized vaccine imported from England. The senior became suspicious when the caller could not answer specific questions about her location or other family members, eventually verifying the situation with her son.