Lexington grandmother scammed thousands of dollars in bail scheme

The family learned the grandmother had been told not to say anything to anyone about the transaction, which is why she stayed silent in fear

LEXINGTON, Ky (WTVQ)- A Lexington family is urging you to be cautious this holiday season after their grandmother was scammed out of tens of thousands of dollars.

The family wanted to remain anonymous, saying they were upset about the scam. However, they felt it was important they share their story to prevent others from becoming a victim.

“She learned a very expensive lesson,” says the daughter. “My mother honest to God thought that her grandson was in trouble.”

The family says the grandmother was contacted by someone in California claiming to be a lawyer representing her grandson.

“The scammer had told my mother that her grandson had been in an accident and that in order to get him out of jail or to keep him out of trouble, she needed to pay $20,000 in bail money and he would have someone to pick that up,” says the daughter.

All of this happened without the family knowing. The scammer called back a few days later, telling the grandmother she needed to send more money.

Following a second withdrawal worth $36,000, red flags started going off and the bank made contact with the family.

“The bank was telling me that my mother had withdrawn $56,000 in those two transactions. I was absolutely shocked,” says the daughter.

After the bank’s fraud department looked into the matter, it brought them to a Lexington UPS store and its owner Bruce Jones. The grandmother had gone there to send a package.

“She informed us it was clothing she was overnighting to her grandson in California, who needed the clothing. And of course, we had no reason to suspect it at that point,” says Jones.

Unknown to the UPS store, the package of clothing also contained the second withdrawal of $36,000.

“We overnighted it and fortunately, it had a slight delay due to weather, so the package had not been delivered. So we were able to stop that package from going and get it brought back here to our center,” says Jones.

“And after about a week, we received the package back in Lexington and the $36,000 was in the package,” says the daughter.

The family learned the grandmother had been told not to say anything to anyone about the transaction, which is why she stayed silent in fear.

It’s not the first time Jones says he’s helped prevent people from getting scammed.

“We see this repeatedly throughout the year of these individuals preying on people and saying most of the time it’s some sort of legal issue or jail time or something like that and they’re wanting money to make this go away or to stop and that’s not the case,” says Jones.

Although one transaction was halted, the woman was still scammed out of $20,000.

“What was really scary to us is the first time someone came to the house pick up the money. They didn’t drive there so we don’t have a car that we could say was associated with it,” says the daughter.

The family’s advice now?

“Be very very careful of who you talk to on the phone. They are so convincing. Don’t believe it, check things out before you believe them,” says the daughter.

The family has since filed a report with the FBI.

Jones says his store sees in excess of $200,000 scammed from people annually from these types of scams.

He says it’s important for people to be extra cautious. He also says to make sure you’re talking directly to your family member and not another party.