Current Scam. Old, new or just a twist?

[adruml]

Not sure if this a new scam, and old one or just a twist on a previous scam but figured I would throw it out here to possibly highten awareness.

About an hour ago my daughter called me and asked me where her brother (Mike) was. Since Mike has lived on his own for several years now I don't know his whereabouts everday so I told her I have no clue but would assume he is at work. I asked her 'why do you ask?"

She went on to tell me he has been arrested. Her grampa called her to ask where Mike was then went on to tell of the phone call he just recieved. Knowing grandpa (my Dad) is 89 years old now I told my daughter to hang up and get a hold of Mike and I would call grandpa.

So I called my Dad and asked him what was going on. He explained a guy called to say his grandson Mike has been arrested and requested he be called for bail money. The caller also stated Mike requested I not be called as he didn't want me to know he has been arrested. The caller stated the bail money could be sent via Western Union....I stopped my Dad there and said, it's a scam! I asked what information did you give him and what did he ask? Luckily bank account, SS or Drivers license numbers were not requested it was a scam for $2,200.00 only and not identity theft, however the idiot left his phone number for my Dad to contact him once he was ready to send the money.

Being the type of person I am I decided to call the number. The idiot answered the phone!!! So I decided to have a little fun but that's a different story. Did a reverse search and found the name and address registered to that phone number along with the IP address associated to any online accounts with that phone number.

Mike is at work and has not been arrested. My daughter is releived and the Police have just left my Dads house with all the information they need to turn over to the FBI. Whether or not something will be done is a different issue.

What would have happened if let's say it was just Dad, me and Mike in the family. My Dad is a very intelligent man but has absolutely no experience with internet or phone scams and is very family orientated...Family first everything else last is how he lives his life. Trouble in the family wouldn't matter what the cost he'll pay it. I'm afraid the scammer may have won.

Be careful out there please. Everybody always verify whether it seams real or not just question everything nowadays.

[JanetB]

Wow! That was a close call! Thank you so much for sharing this with us. I am a little more the wiser now

[suesjools]

Wow, Al, that is awful, good thing you're alert. Hope the police arrest the scum ASAP.

Best wishes for many sales to all,

[cornishmaid1961]

Crikey what a horrible thing to happen. It must be somebody that knows your son or father to know about the family connection, unless they have been doing family tree research on you all !

[astral276]

A similar ruse (e.g. a phone call telling you that a family member is critical in hospital) can also be used to get you out of the house to give burglars a free run.

There are no depths that this kind of scum will not sink to. One can only hope that what goes around, comes around.

[Mimistreasures2010]

Why do people have to be that way. Its people like that, that make it hard on everyone else to believe in the best of anyone. Thats ok they will get thiers in the end.

[adruml]

The day after the Police came to have my Dad file a report which they claim they hand over to the FBI I decided to call an old friend I went to school with. He is now a Burbank (City my Dad lives in) Detective. I asked if the FBI would truly investigate this matter or what happens now?
He said honestly, the report gets filed and if the guy does get caught the punishment is weighed by the amount of reports on file.
So I scratched my head and asked "if the reports just get filed how in God's name could he possibly get caught"?
His answer was there are so many scammers out there nobody has the time to look into them all, quite possibly less then 1% of all scams reported even get looked into let alone persued.

Now I remember years ago when computers and robotics began taking over millions of jobs and the entire world was concerned. My thoughts were always; thats okay, jobs will be lost but new/different jobs will be created. Someone has to build the computers/robotics, programme them and maintain them so yes jobs were lost but jobs were also created.
Here in America our unemployment rate is skyrocketing but we don't have the manpower to investigate scammers? I can think of a million job openings immediately, possibly paid for by the same folks who buy/sell our information for advertising/telemarketing use.