Grandson is in Jail Lawyer Needs 9600 to Get Him Out

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  • Butch627

    Master
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    24   0   0
    Jan 3, 2012
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    NWI
    So my 89 year old mother got the call at 10am on thursday. Her grandson who is a freshman in college is in jail and the lawyer needs the money right away least her grandson gets thrown in general population at the jail. She told him she had to shower before she could go to the bank, he said that was ok and that he would call her back and give her instructions on how to proceed. Luckily she called me on her cell as the landline was not working after the lawyers call on the land line. I talked her off the ledge and tried calling her land line and got a busy signal. Seems that she forgot to hang up the cordless land line so everyone who called it the rest of the day got a busy signal. She feels stupid for initially falling for the scam but is proud of herself for calling me. She was outside most of the day today, he could have called but didn't while she was in the house.

    She lives in unincorporated Lake County. She didn't get far enough with the scammer to find out if she was supposed to meet someone in person and hand over cash or make some sort of bank transfer or something else. I am wondering if I should have called the Lake County Sheriff or if it is something that I should still do and if there is anything they could or would do? She does have a name and phone number but I am sure they would lead nowhere.
     

    tv1217

    N6OTB
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    Mar 11, 2009
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    Couldn't hurt to report it to the cops. They may not be able to do much because they're likely overseas somewhere using some sort of VoIP service to acquire local numbers. At a minimum they'll probably at least thank you for making them aware of it.
     

    Mr Evilwrench

    Quantum Mechanic
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    0   0   0
    Aug 18, 2011
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    Carmel
    Can't hurt to get a report filed, at least. They may or may not be able to do anything with what she has, but they can at least be aware that there's somebody out there trying to pull this crap. They might be able to nail him next time, or at least warn people about the scam.
     

    Mgderf

    Grandmaster
    Site Supporter
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    43   0   0
    May 30, 2009
    17,878
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    Lafayette
    I wish they would call me.
    I'd have some fun with them telling them what a uselees little p.o.s. that grandson is, how dispised he is by the family, and how he DESERVES to be in jail!
     

    Hoosierdood

    Grandmaster
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    8   0   0
    Nov 2, 2010
    5,360
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    North of you
    The scammers usually tell the mark to go to Target or Best Buy and buy a couple grand in gift cards and read the code on the back of the cards to them over the phone.
    I work at Best Buy and we get people come in all the time to buy these gift cards.
    We try to talk them of the ledge and explain the scam but 90% tell us "I'm buying these for my grandkids". The scammers obviously coach them on what to say.
     

    KellyinAvon

    Blue-ID Mafia Consigliere
    Staff member
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    6   0   0
    Dec 22, 2012
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    Avon
    A couple years ago my Mom got a call from her grandson in jail in New York. Her reply was, "Well that's too bad" and she hung up.

    A couple take-aways here: One, don't call my Mom if you're in jail. Two, my parents are off the grid, yet the scammers had the name of their grandson. The scammers may not know for sure, but they can guess and get it right.
     

    churchmouse

    I still care....Really
    Emeritus
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    187   0   0
    Dec 7, 2011
    191,809
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    Speedway area
    A couple years ago my Mom got a call from her grandson in jail in New York. Her reply was, "Well that's too bad" and she hung up.

    A couple take-aways here: One, don't call my Mom if you're in jail. Two, my parents are off the grid, yet the scammers had the name of their grandson. The scammers may not know for sure, but they can guess and get it right.

    Truth is these scam artists can get info from the elderly with just a few key questions and the right words. My MIL (God rest her soul) got one of these calls about our oldest son. She finally came to her senses after she realized she was being manipulated and told them she was calling her grandsons parents to get this situation taken care of and they hung up. After talking with her she said they asked all the right things and she was easily tricked into sharing too much with them.
     

    jsharmon7

    Grandmaster
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    119   0   0
    Nov 24, 2008
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    Freedonia
    There are too many of these scams going around right now for anyone to really do anything about it. She can report it if it makes her feel better, but there’s just nothing to be done. Good thing she thought to get a second opinion and save herself some money.
     

    jsharmon7

    Grandmaster
    Rating - 100%
    119   0   0
    Nov 24, 2008
    7,822
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    Freedonia
    A couple years ago my Mom got a call from her grandson in jail in New York. Her reply was, "Well that's too bad" and she hung up.

    A couple take-aways here: One, don't call my Mom if you're in jail. Two, my parents are off the grid, yet the scammers had the name of their grandson. The scammers may not know for sure, but they can guess and get it right.

    Open source intelligence is easy to obtain if you know where to look. Most people would be horrified to see what’s out there about them for free. When you consider the number of data breaches leaking information onto the dark web, it’s easy to see how these things happen. Education and prevention is the best approach.
     

    tv1217

    N6OTB
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    3   0   0
    Mar 11, 2009
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    It's fairly easy to get names, addresses, phone numbers, names of relatives, etc. Most of that you can get for a small monthly fee from even just the Whitepages website.
     

    HoughMade

    Grandmaster
    Rating - 0%
    0   0   0
    Oct 24, 2012
    35,615
    149
    Valparaiso
    Another good reason to a maintain a family dynamic where everyone is regularly in contact with everyone else and knows where they are at in life....and physically where they are at. Both my Mom and my Mother-in-Law have gotten similar calls. Both of them were certain of where the grandkids are, that the likelihood of them being in jail is miniscule and that if they were in jail, they would call their parents, not Grandma.
     

    Leadeye

    Grandmaster
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    4   0   0
    Jan 19, 2009
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    .
    Too bad you can't track these people down and break their hands with a steel pipe. Might keep some caring people from being victims.
     

    russc2542

    Master
    Rating - 100%
    24   0   0
    Oct 24, 2015
    2,111
    83
    Columbus
    A coworker of mine's grandma fell for it a few years ago. It was $2k in amazon gift carts and email them the info or something... it's been a while. long story short, they're a farm family so the houses are in the middle of nowhere but 3 generations on the same lot. He got home after work and granny came over flustered and fussing over him "I'm so glad you're OK" so he asked what's up, she told him what happened, so they checked on the cards: they hadn't been used yet so he loaded them on his Amazon account and his wife bought a bunch of stuff. They talked to the po-po and were told gee that sucks but nothing we can do.
     
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