Monroeville Woman Loses $2K In Telephone Scam
MONROEVILLE (KDKA) -- A Monroeville woman is $2,000 poorer after she was targeted in a telephone scam.
She asked that we not identify her.
The woman got a call Thursday morning from a man who said his name was "Dan," her son's best friend.
"I thought I was helping somebody in desperate shape," she said. "Get him out of jail, that was my thought."
He said he was calling from jail, and he'd been hurt in an accident. He couldn't stay on the phone long, and he could only make one call.
"He said I can't talk too well, because I broke my nose and I have stitches in my mouth," the woman said.
Another fast-talking man then came on the phone saying $2,000 would get "Dan" out of jail.
The woman withdrew the money from her bank, and then sent it through MoneyPak after purchasing four cards at a pharmacy nearby using PayPal.
She got a second call saying "Dan" now needed $3,500 more for court costs. That's when she realized it was a rip-off.
She quickly learned the real "Dan" was neither in an accident nor in jail.
Now she says she hopes others will learn from what happened to her in the space of just a few hours today.
"Question everything; don't start handing out money until you know what's going on," she added.
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