Butler County woman loses $9K in scam involving report of grandson in jail

An Oxford woman reported losing $9,000 in a scam in which a caller said her grandson was in jail and needed the money to post bond, according to a police report.

The woman told police June 22 that on the previous Wednesday she had received a phone call, supposedly from her bank, saying she needed to withdraw money because she had too much in her account. She withdrew $10,000 in cash, intending to place it in an account in another bank.

Before she could deposit the money, however, she got a second call saying her grandson was in jail and needed $9,000 for bond. She was told a courier would come by the next day to pick up the money and a man arrived the next day to get it. She gave the man the envelope with cash in it.

Then, a day or two later, she got a third call from a man she assumed was grandson’s attorney saying she needed to wire him $8,650 to a bank in Florida. She went back to her bank to do that, but the transfer did not go through due to forms not being filled out correctly. The victim talked to her son later and asked about her grandson and that was when she realized she had been scammed.

Her granddaughter was present when the report was made to police and asked that she be contacted if more information is needed from the victim because she is shaken up about the incident and having trouble remembering things correctly.

The investigation is continuing.

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