Grandparent and jury‑duty scams remain active in Williamson County; presenter cites six‑figure bank fraud case

During a presentation at the Williamson County Public Library, Paula Dagel of AgeWell Middle Tennessee urged seniors to treat urgent-sounding phone calls with skepticism and to verify requests through known numbers. "Most 99% of the time that is going to be a scammer," Dagel said of grandparent-impersonation calls that ask for gift cards or wire transfers.

Dagel described another common local fraud: callers who threaten arrest for missed jury duty and demand immediate payment. "You will not be arrested. The police are not going to call you to say you missed jury duty," she told attendees, encouraging residents to hang up and contact their local police department directly. She emphasized that scammers count on fear to push people into irreversible actions.

To illustrate the stakes, Dagel recounted a recent case: a person who received a call appearing to be from a bank's fraud unit logged in at the caller's direction and later discovered $63,000 had been wired from her account. "Once it's gone, it's gone," Dagel said, adding that the victim "doesn't know where" the funds were sent and that the bank "has not been as helpful as we would hope." She advised visiting a bank branch or using phone numbers printed on cards to verify suspicious calls rather than trusting numbers left on caller ID or in voicemails.