The report to police was made by phone because the victim had flown to Seattle to help his son, thinking he would not be able to call him since he was in jail.
He was told to contact an attorney in Atlanta and given a phone number to call. The “attorney” told him to send $18,000 in cash in two manila envelopes and two legal envelopes to an address in Atlanta.
The man got the money together and went to the Oxford UPS Store to send the money, which cost $118.02 to send next day delivery.
He was told the package would be delivered the next day at 8 a.m.
The victim and his wife became increasingly worried about their son and he decided to fly to Seattle, paying $1,066.20 for a Delta airplane flight. When he arrived, however, he learned his son was fine and had not made the call.
Realizing he had been scammed, the victim called UPS to stop delivery, paid a fee to have the delivery fee stopped and was assured the package would not be delivered. He said he called again the next morning to assure the delivery was being stopped and was told there was a note to that effect, but at 7:58 a.m., it was discovered the delivery person realized the note too late and the package had been delivered.
They were to make an effort to locate the package, but the victim had not heard back about that effort as of the time of the police report. He was making the police report to document the incident and was advised to keep police informed of new information.
The incident remains under investigation.
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