HARLINGEN — The caller on the other end of the line sounded just like her nephew.
He told a story about being on vacation in Mexico City where he hooked up with the wrong people.
Before he knew what was happening, the car he was in with these new friends was stopped, and marijuana was found in the vehicle.
Then, she was told by someone claiming to be with the Embassy in Mexico City that he could leave jail if she could send $2,000.
That’s all it took. The emotional plea worked perfectly.
The elderly Harlingen resident followed the caller’s instructions to purchase four $500 iTunes cards from CVS and read the “man at the Embassy” the numbers on the back. She did this even though she had to borrow the money to buy the cards.
But, now, she knows that wasn’t her nephew and the $2,000 is gone.
This is known as the grandparents scam, something the FBI has been receiving complaints about since 2008.
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