There is no shortage of scams out there, with most of them playing on a desire to get rich quick. But there are also scams that play on a person’s heart strings and devotion to family members. It was just this sort of scam that recently cost a Center Township man $1,300.

Last week, a Butler Eagle story explained how something called the “grandparent scam” works. The 76-year-old Center Township man received a phone call from a person claiming to be his grandson. The caller told the grandfather that he’d gotten into trouble and was in jail in Delaware — and he needed $1,3000 to get bailed out.

With about 40,000 such cases received by the Federal Trade Commission since 2010, this scenario is so common it’s been called the “grandparent scam” by law enforcement officials.

It’s easy to see why it works — a grandchild calls from far away, claiming to be in trouble and asking for money. The conmen often claim they have a cold or a mouth injury to explain why their voice is not clear or easily recognizable. They also typically tell the target grandparent to keep the story — and request for money — secret, because the “grandson” is embarrassed and doesn’t want his parents or friends to know about the car accident, DUI or whatever he’s claiming put him in jail.

What grandparent would not want to help a grandchild? A call of distress from a loved one is unsettling and can cause a normally rational person to slip into panic mode, brushing aside normal cautions.

Law enforcement agencies have found that many of these grandparent scams are operated out of multiphone boiler rooms in Canada. In one case, an elderly couple from Michigan lost $33,000 of their life savings when they wired money to help a caller claiming to be their grandson and saying he was stuck in a Canadian jail.

The callers are clever, often drawing information from the startled grandparent to make them sound more believable. They often start with “Hi, Grandma” or “Hi, PapPap.” When the stunned grandparent asks, “Is that you, Tommy?” the caller says, “Yes, grandpa” and has set the hook deeper. Social media sites and the Internet have allowed scammers to learn more about their targets or glean details about the grandson they are claiming to be, to make their story more believable.

One reason these scams sometimes succeed is that older people tend to be less suspicious, not likely to consider that they are being lied to or cheated. They cannot fathom that someone would pretend to be a grandchild in trouble to steal money from them. And they also wonder, how did the caller get my phone number or know I had a grandson?

Today’s baby boomers warn their aging parents about these scams. They should remind the grandparents that these cons are quite common — and advise never sending money without checking out some details.

Though it’s hard to have the presence of mind to ask follow-up questions when a grandchild calls and claims to be in trouble, it’s important to remain calm and not be rushed into sending money. Police suggest asking a question that only the real grandchild would know, like the name of a sibling, other relative or family pet.

Beyond that, law enforcement suggests calling a relative, such as the child’s parents, to see if the grandchild is, in fact, traveling and could be in the location he’s claiming to be. Even though the conman will act desperate for fast cash and plead for the grandparent not to tell anyone else, the targeted grandparent should call a family member before to verify the story or expose it as a scam.

Any scam story is troubling, but targeting aging grandparents and stealing their money by pressing them to help a grandchild in trouble is about as bad as it gets.