Victim Location 79109
Type of a scam Family/Friend Emergency
I received a phone call at 8:30 am Central Time from a young man who just said hello. I asked if this was Zach thinking it was my grandson? He said yes & proceeded to tell me he was in trouble. "He had been out with some buddies celebrating a friends wedding. He had an accident, broke his nose & had cuts or stitches. He was in jail for a DUI & gave me as his contact. He only had 5 minutes to talk & needed me to write down a case number. Someone would call me to verify this number in a few minutes." He didn’t want me to tell anyone, he was too embarrassed. He then hung up. A man called me in a few minutes, asked me if I heard from Zach & if I had the case number. He said he was the court appointed attorney. I verified the number & then he asked my name, Zach’s last name & our relationship (grandson). I did give him that. He told me that Zach had a few drinks and had said he was on his cell phone when he rear-ended a lady who was 5 months pregnant & she was taken to the hospital. Zach was charged with "Reckless endangerment & DUI". He said he had negotiated the bail down from $27,800 to $13,500. If they didn’t get the bail soon, Zach might have to stay in jail for 3 days or more. I asked about using a bail bondsman. He said that would involve a lot more money & I wouldn’t get any back, but I would get the $13,500 cash back. I was instructed to go to an office supply store to get a 19"x15" padded envelope & then get the $13,500 in cash then call him back on his personal phone (1-339-645-9659). I asked his name which he said was Mark Bailey. The call from "Zach" & the first call from the "attorney" was from 1-203-255-7788, Fairfield, CT. I told my husband what was going on & he went with me to get the envelope & cash. We called him back & he told us to go to the Fed Ex office and send the money in the envelope to Zach at this address: 651 Albany Ave, Hartsford, CT 206112 & to call him back with the tracking number. As soon as he had that, he could get Zach released, take him back to his office & he’d have Zach call me then. (They supposedly kept Zach’s phone since he admitted to being on the phone at the time of the accident). When we got to the Fed Ex, I realized that the zip code had too many digits. We asked the clerk to verify the zip code. She questioned the name of the city but then said the zip was 06112. She asked if this was a business. I said yes I think so. She questioned it & looked it up on Google Maps. She said it was several businesses like several grocery stores. We got suspicious & told her we were going to call him back to verify the address which I did. He then told me that it was a Federal office on the 2nd floor above the stores. I looked up Mark Bailey on Google & found one in New Jersey & thought about calling his office but we decided to call my son’s wife to see if they knew where Zach was & then we all realized it was a scam. My grandson called me to verify he was not in jail, he was working from home because of the coronavirus scare. Of course we did not send the money. He then called me back to see if I had the tracking number yet. My husband talked to him, told him that an FBI agent was with us & wanted to talk to him. Of course he hung up.