***CONSUMER WARNING:  NEVER TRUST A BAIL BOND AGENT THAT CALLS YOU OUT OF THE BLUE!

No matter how much the world evolves and things change, one thing will always stay the same…there will also be conmen and scams.  While some of us go to work every day and do our best to contribute in a positive way to society and support our families, some choose to take the easy way out and feed off the rest of us with lies and scams.  One of these scams that has become more popular recently involves someone being in jail and needing money for a bail bond.  Here is out it works…first, a family member will receive a phone call (this is usually an elderly person, maybe a grandparent).  Second, the caller identifies themselves as a family member being in trouble and needing money to help them out.  They ask the family member to wire some money to them.  And just like that, you are out a couple hundred to a couple thousand dollars. 

IMPORTANT NOTE: Just to be clear, consumers should never receive a call from a bail bond agent.  It is illegal for them to solicit your business in this way.  You should only work with someone who you have contacted.

While this scam has worked on many unsuspecting consumers, it didn’t on one sharp grandmother in Oregon.  She received a call from a young woman who was claiming to be her granddaughter, and who was in jail in Canada. and needed money for a bail bond and legal fees.  The grandmother was very suspicious because the caller asked her not to involve her parents.  When the grandmother began asking questions, the caller hung up.  The conman was so sneaky that even after the hang-up they went as far as to call back and pretend to be an attorney working on the case.  The attorney once again asked for the money to help with the case and recommended not including the parents in the process.  The grandmother had heard enough by now and wrote the caller’s number down and reported it to the police.  According to police, the number reported is the same number that has been reported in the past with the same type of scam.

So next time someone calls you and asks for you to help bail someone out of jail, unless you know for sure it is them, do not fall for their trap.  The reality of bail is that you should never receive a call from a bail bondsman.  By law, they are not allowed to solicit you for your business.  If you need a bail bond agent you should go online and find one yourself through a trusted source like ExpertBail.  Anyone that calls you directly is either a scam like what is mentioned above or they are illegally getting booking information from the jails and calling you based on a guess that your relative is in custody….and if they are going about their business in that way, you should definitely not trust them to help you with a business transaction as sensitive as a bail bond.  Read the original story below.  

Original article: Suspicious grandmother thwarts phone scam