With phone scammers on the rise, don’t forget you can always scam them back

Another day another scam in New Jersey. The infamous 'grandparent scam' struck again this time in Mantua Township. A call came in to an elderly couple from someone claiming to be a lawyer in Arizona who was representing their 16 year old grandson. He was in jail, you see, and in biiiiiig trouble. In order to get him bailed out they were instructed to purchase $3,000 in Best Buy gift cards and provide the necessary codes to the 'lawyer.'

Sadly the couple did as they were told and had already turned over $2,000 to this scumbag before they realized their grandson was not in Arizona and was actually safe at home. When I hear this story, I think all of the following. Wouldn't your first move be to get a phone number from the lawyer where you could call him back and immediately check to see if the 16 year old really was in Arizona? If one grandparent were being taken in by the scam, wouldn't the other one have had the presence of mind to question it? Wouldn't you throw on the brakes the moment you heard the method of payment to a lawyer was to be in the form of Best Buy gift cards? Wouldn't you check the area code to see if it were really coming from Arizona? Wouldn't you research to see if the name given really was a working lawyer? Wouldn't you call the boy's parents?

Obviously none of that happened and another scammer got his payday. It's refreshing to know that sometimes the scammer gets scammed. You often hear of a would-be victim turning the tables on the scammer and messing with them, keeping them on the phone as long as possible just for their own satisfaction. But here's a video of a guy who actually recorded the whole thing. Some loser claiming to be from the United States Federal Grants Department called him telling him he was due $9,700 for basically just being a good citizen. The potential victim quickly gets the phone on speaker and sets up another camera to record the whole thing. Watch the video and see how the scammer gets owned. Once it gets to Jesus and doughnuts it gets really good.