Victim Location 45040
Total money lost $70,000
Type of a scam Family/Friend Emergency
83 year old widowed grandmother received a call from a person posing as a grandson, who had been arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol. The imposter grandson told the grandmother to keep their conversation and his troubles strictly confidential, especially from his parents, and that the grandmother should speak with the charging lawyer. A person posing as a district attorney tells the grandmother that her grandson’s alcohol limit was just under the legal liability limit, but he is still in jail. The lawyer promises the grandmother that he can get her grandson out of jail and have his record kept clean if payment was given in the form of gift cards. The grandmother was told to buy $50K worth of gift cards and read the numbers to the lawyer over the telephone for his fees. The scam continued by requesting additional fees in the form of gift cards. In total, the grandmother was scammed for $70K of gift cards.