Richmond great-grandmother speaks out after falling victim to the 'Grandchild Scam'

Gretchen Schellenberg would do anything for her 12 grandchildren and 18 great-grandchildren. So the Richmond senior was concerned when a man phoned in early February claiming to be a police officer, saying her grandson Tyler had been in an accident, and drugs were found in the car.

Gretchen Schellenberg would do anything for her 12 grandchildren and 18 great-grandchildren.

So the Richmond senior was concerned when a man phoned in early February claiming to be a police officer, saying her grandson Tyler had been in an accident, and drugs were found in the car.

She was told he’d been arrested, and would go to jail unless she came up with $18,000. The caller then passed the phone to a man Schellenberg said sounded just like Tyler.

“He says to me, 'Grandma, I love you so much.' He says, 'I don’t want to have a police record,'” said Schellenberg.

She initially withdrew $5,000, which was picked up at her home by a courier. She was told not to tell anyone what was going on, or it would hurt Tyler’s case.

“They anticipated the questions at the bank about about why are you taking out the money, and told her how to answer that,” said Schellenberg’s son Allen.

Weeks later, she had another call from a man posing as a second police officer, demanding even more money to keep her grandson out of jail. She said she could send $4,000, but the caller said that wasn’t enough. So Schellenberg offered a set of pearls her now-deceased husband had given her 50 years ago, that appraised for $1,500. The man posing as police agreed.