Hobart police warn residents to beware of phone scams

HOBART | Police are warning residents of a phone scam in which callers represent themselves as police officers.

An elderly Hobart resident told police she received a call from someone claiming to be her grandson.

The caller told the woman he was in jail in Florida and had been arrested with a friend because he had drugs in the car.

The phone then was passed to another individual, who identified himself as a Greenwood, Fla., police officer.

The Hobart woman was told she needed to wire $2,800 to Lima, Peru, via Western Union.

The woman then called her grandson, who said debunked the scam.

She then contacted Hobart police, who in turn called the police agency in Florida and determined it was a scam.