KENNEWICK — An unsuspecting 99-year-old woman has fallen prey to scammers after she wired $2,200 to a man in Canada who claimed to be her grandson and said he needed money to get out of jail.

The grandmother believed the telephone caller Sept. 30 when he introduced himself as her "favorite grandson," then proceeded to follow his orders to send cash through a Western Union transfer to Vancouver, B.C., according to Kennewick police.

The crime was only reported Friday after the woman spoke with relatives and discovered the grandson had not recently been in Canada.

Though this scam was popular last spring, Kennewick police didn't have any reported victims until two cases popped up in the past month, said Mike Blatman, the department's crime prevention specialist.

Police don't know specifics about how the scammers operate, but they believe it's similar to telemarketing where the suspects keep calling people at random until they find a gullible victim.

"It's a numbers game. The more people you call you might stumble across something," Blatman said.

But the scam is always the same — a person claims to be the grandchild of the call recipient and implies they need assistance after being involved in an accident or arrested while traveling in Canada.

In the recent case, the Kennewick woman got a call from a man who said, "Hi grandma, this is your favorite grandson." When she used her grandson's real name, the caller played along with it and was able to convince the woman, Blatman said.

The man said he had been in Canada for a wedding when he got into an accident and was thrown in jail. He said he needed $2,200 to get out and return home, and he convinced the woman "not to tell other family members as he was ashamed of being in jail," police said.

The woman was given a name and a location to wire the money. She was charged $128.99 by Western Union for a processing fee, Blatman said.

The name of the recipient could be fictitious, he said. "The chances of finding out who it actually went to are slim to none."

The "grandson" had told the woman that after his release he would send her a letter, but she never heard from him. Eventually she went to the "grandson's" mother to find out how he was doing.

That is when relatives learned the elderly woman had been swindled.

"It's kind of heartbreaking — a 99-year-old woman thinking she's trying to help somebody," Blatman said.

Officers are looking into where the money was picked up in British Columbia. If the investigation turns up anything, they plan to forward the report to the appropriate Canadian agency, he said.

The other victim was a woman in her 70s. The two are not related.

In that incident, the caller said he'd been arrested for DUI and needed money. That woman also transferred money to British Columbia, Blatman said.

"It is important that anyone receiving these types of calls to verify the information before sending money to anyone," he said. "These types of scams play on the good nature of folks who think they are helping a family member and take advantage of confusing the victim."