One morning, about a month ago, at about 10am, my wife and I got a phone call. Our phone caller ID gave us an unknown area code with no caller name. When I answered the phone, the voice said " Grandpa?" I said "J% is that you?" I said "do you want to speak to your grandmother?" He said yes so we both got on the phone. He sounded really upset, he didn"t want to talk to his father or mother, he was so embarrassed.
J% said he was in Peru. A friend of his from school (whose father owned a travel agency gave us 2 tickets for a 5 day trip to Peru. While riding in someone else's rental car going to a different hotel, we were pulled over for speeding. The policeus out of the car, opened the car's truck and found 50 grams of drugs. I'm now in a room and the US Consulant wants to speak to you. He says this happens..."James Rolland" got on the phone, indroduced himself to us and said he believed our grandson was innocent of all charges (a drug test was negative) but our grandson was going to be held in jail until the next Court hearing in a few days. He said that if we could send money to the Bail Bondman, he would see that our grandson was on the eveniing flight home using the ticket he already had. I said " HOW MUCH"? Our instructions: withdraww $ 3000 (in cash) from our local Bank acct, go to the local Walmart's Moneygram counter (may be a $50 -$100 charge) wire $2900.00 to LUIS E BOCA-NEGRA-F c/o Cusco, Peru and after this money is wired call 143-887-773-34 ext 221 with the confirmation number. If the Moneygram person asks why, "say a family relative, friend is short of money".
Thank goodness one of our local bank's teller overheard my request to an other teller for this large withdrawal and she asked me "for the reason"... When I said our grandson was is a Peruian jail and I needed to send this money to get him on the evening plane flight back to California. This bank teller asked me if I had called his mother (our daughter). When I said she wasn't at work nor at home, she told me that this sounded like a familiar SCAM that happens often when elderly grandparents want to withdraw large amounts of cash from their savings accts.
This teller saved us from sending this $ 2900
to a peruian thief.
Shortly after we left the bank, we drove by our daughter's home, I knocked on the door and guess who answered... Our grandson j%. He was at his mother's home to have lunch, getting ready to go back to school, practice basketball and go to work in the evening...
THANK GOD! HE WAS NEVER IIN PERU!
WARNING... This scam is not new and is being done everyday to some grandparents. The call call could come from Africa, Europe or South America. We grandparents with a little extra cash in a bank are an easy mark... They know we'll do anything to help our young adult grandchildren... BEWARE Our local Police didn"t take my report because there had not been any money sent, therefore no lost or harm done... Altho, the police officer did give me this www.ic3. Gov website to report this SCAM I can be reached @[email protected]
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