I received a phone call from a young lady, crying saying that she was my grandaughter. She gave me the name, and I thought that I was talking to her. She said that she had been locked up the night before, and that she need $2000.00 to pay her bond so she could go home. I asked her what happened, she stated that her and a girl friend were coming home from a concert and the cops stopped them. and her girlfriend had drugs in her backpack. Therefore they both were taken to jain in Newark N J. She said that she had been to trial this morning and that she could leave after she paid the money. She asked me to send it by Money Gram. I asked her did her mother know where she was. She said that her mother thinks that she spent the night with her girlfriend. I then asked was she going to call her mother. Sh stated that she would as soon as she got out. Mind you she was still crying, and sounding just like my granddaughter. So I went and sent the money by money gram to Newark N J. She then called again crying and saying that they still would not let her go. She siad that the lawyer that represented her at the trial, said he had to be paid $12,000. Once again I told her to call her mother and than call me back. She did just that SHE CALLED ME BACK and said that her mother said “you got yourself in that trouble, now get yourself out”. Me being the grandmother with all heart and no brain, went about to send her more money. (NOT WANTING HER TO BE STUCK IN A TOWN THAT SHE WAS NOT FAMILIAR WITH.) This time from two credit cards, since you can’t send more than $500.00 at a time. I missed going to work that evening waiting for her to tell me that she was on her way home. Finally I decided to text my granddaughter,to see if she was near home. My real grandaughter texted me back and asked why was I texing her. She called me and I said I have been talking to you all day. When did you get home. She informed me that she had never been in jail. She had been at work all day. She lives in Virginia. She has never been to Newark. She told her mother what I said abaout jail and the money. Now I finally realized that I was really scammed. Instead of using my head on the very first money request by calling her mother, I let my heart lead me and this caused me to loose $3,000.00 being foolish. I hope this will help some other grandparents who call themselves helping out the grands. I am reporting this to my local police district, because the person had to use my grandaughters first and last name to pick up the money. This means that she could be a victim of identify theft. Just think this person knew that I had a grandaughter with that name, and it is not a common name. Of course the first thing is, you want to make sure your grands are not scamming you. This was not the case. We are also reporting it to the Virginia police also. When I asked the scammer about calling me on her cell, she said that it was dead, and she did not have her charger with her. Can you believe, I even told her to go and buy a care charger so that she would not be driving without a phone. Once again I was relly really very foolish and ignorant. I hope this will keep someone from making the mistake I made. All phone calls came unknown caller except one. I have that number, hopefully the police can trace it.
This post was submitted by bernice murray.
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