Penn Hills woman warns of scam asking for money to bail child out of jail
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — A Penn Hills woman said she was approached by scammers with a scary and convincing scheme.
She said she wants people to be on alert so they don't fall victim.
On Tuesday afternoon, Erika Johnson told KDKA-TV she received a terrifying phone call from a private number. The person on the other line claimed to be a police detective and said her daughter hurt a pregnant woman in a car crash, was arrested and is being held at the courthouse.
She said she could even hear a woman crying in the background.
"You should have heard her. She was bawling so bad," Johnson said. "She just kept saying mom, mom and crying inaudibly and loud and uncontrollably."
They told Johnson not to even bother calling her daughter because her phone had been confiscated. Johnson said she grabbed her keys and began driving to the courthouse.
While driving, another call came through from somebody claiming to be an attorney representing her daughter and he requested $15,000 to post bail.
"I was like how could it be a bail of $15,000 for a traffic accident when she hasn't even seen a judge yet? And he said, 'Oh, well we have a judge down here,'" Johnson said. "He said it happened three hours ago, trying to give me a timeline to justify that she went in front of a judge."
And that is when Johnson told KDKA-TV she knew she was being extorted. They told her the accident happened three hours prior to their conversation, but Johnson had actually spoken to her daughter since then.
She immediately called her daughter, who said she was fine. Johnson is thankful she narrowly dodged this well-designed scheme.
"They should not be able to pull this kind of stunt on unwitting people," said Johnson.
Johnson told KDKA-TV when they called her, they addressed her by name, making this alleged scheme seem even more real.