BOISE, Idaho — Boise Police are warning parents about a new phone scam designed to strike fear into the hearts of loving families.
Scammers are calling parents, pretending to be medics, and claiming their child has been injured.
“Scams are an epidemic. Nobody really wants to talk about it. And I would guess most people don’t understand the gravity and the impact that it’s having,” said Detective Brad Thorne with Boise Police. “It’s a trillion-dollar industry worldwide. Idaho alone was [scammed for] $54 million just last year, and that’s with less than 50% reporting.”
WATCH: Boise Police warn of new phone scam targeting parents
Thorne said the latest scam is what investigators call a “family emergency scam,” a variation of the so-called grandparent scam.
“They’ve done enough research to know the name, the school, and then they make that call— have somebody crying in the background, usually a recording, using AI,” Thorne said. “What would you do to save your kid? You’d pay.”
Thorne advises families to plan ahead. “The main tip is to have a plan. Everybody is going to be contacted by a scammer. Thinking that it’s not going to happen to me is the worst possible way to go about it,” he explained.
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One method is setting a family code word, something only parents and children would know, to verify a caller’s identity.
“If you stop, pause, question, [and] find out what you can without the scammer’s information— you can get past most scams without losing money,” Thorne said.
Boise Police stress that scammers count on fear and knee-jerk reactions. To avoid getting scammed, individuals should practice awareness and patience.
