Scam Warning!!! Alert to Grandparents!!!

Today was a lot more exciting than I'd like a day to be! I was going about my daily routine, checking in on my dad, who's 84 yrs. old. He was sitting at the table talking on the phone very excitedly. A person called claiming to be a lawyer representing legal aid from a city where my son lives. He was telling my dad that my son had been in an injury accident & even let my dad talk to my "son". Supposedly, my son had been in the hospital, where he had a broken nose, chipped teeth & two black eyes. Now my son was in jail, because the accident was his fault & he had signed a paper to that affect, he had run a red light & hit this person who was on their way to the airport to return to the Dominican Republic, where they lived.

This "lawyer" told my dad that this person was willing to drop all the charges if my dad would just Western Union $3600 to this person & he gave the name in the Dominican Republic. The "lawyer" said the was just a matter of hours to close the deal on this plea bargain, and that he needed to go right away to do this. Otherwise, this chance would be lost & my son would have to serve a jail sentence. The "lawyer" also stated that he had talked to the insurance company and they would reimburse my dad for the money when they settled the claim. He also said not to talk to a lot of people & if they asked at Western Union, not to tell them what the money was for, just that it was a "personal matter". My dad was going to do it because it sounded all so real & he really thought he had talked to my son. Upon talking to the Western Union people, they questioned the amount & the name of the person because in that country, they use two surnames, not one like Americans do. Thank goodness. A call was then placed to my son, who was at home and had no clue as to what was transpiring. My dad would have been bilked out of $3600. It was a scary few hours for him.

We called our local Sheriff's department and informed them, but like most crime over telephone & internet, there is not much they can do. I asked if they got more complaints to please put something in the paper to warn our senior citizens!! It was amazing how much information these people had about our family!!!

BE CAREFUL!!!