The lady was kind but she spoke with a sense of urgency. Her husband stood nearby, watching over her shoulder and intently listening so that they both could hear the directions to 1199 Main Street in Bangor.
I knew there was no such address, so while I stood nearby, it ran through my mind that they initially heard the number incorrectly. While Melody – QOTFD (queen of the front desk) – was punching in the numbers to our WWDB (world-wide data base) I walked up to the window and asked who they might be looking for.
Remember, this is Maine and we find people by landmarks like crooked trees, sharp corners, and by recalling who used to live in the “old Miller place.”
The senior couple were trying to locate a bail bondsman who would only wait a short time for their four thousand dollars to get their grandson out of jail.
Poor kid had been in a horrible accident and as a result of the crash had caused horrific injuries to a woman who was now in our local hospital. The bondsman said that it was a possibility that the lady was not going to make it out of surgery.
Their grandson was scared, he had never been in trouble before. He needed his grammy to come help him so he did not have to call his mother.
I went into the lobby to speak to the couple. My first inquiry was to find out how the bondsman wanted them to pay him.
They had driven to Bangor from far eastern Maine. They stopped at their local bank first to get cash to help their grandson. He had called them directly and, while he did not sound exactly like their grandson, he was able to at least give them his correct name – or did he?
The couple were told to purchase iTunes gift cards or Green Dot cards and then supply the numbers to the bondsman. Only then could their grandson get out of jail in Bangor. I asked how old their grandson was and the nice lady told me that he was 17.
You probably can see where this is going, can’t you?
While I did not know where 1199 Main Street was, I did know there had been no horrific accident in Bangor on Wednesday. I knew that Maine does not have any bondsman working out of an office on Main Street, and I knew that we would not put a 17-year-old in the local county jail.
I also knew that if anyone who claims official capacity ever asks you to pay them in gift cards of any type, that you need to hang up your phone.
Scammers do not know the specific protocol in the towns where they telephonically pull their scams. Your local police department does. If you are suspicious of a lie being shared with you by phone, please call the cops. Or even stop by your local agency – someone will help you work through it.
It took me 15 minutes to explain to the lovely couple that the caller was a liar and that they should go see their grandson, in person, when he got out of class from a local high school.
I had to make a personal guarantee to the man that I was not lying to them as he patted his pocket indicating he was prepared to pay the four thousand dollars out of their savings account to help their grandson. In other words, I had to work very hard to undo what the liar on the phone had done.
These scams frustrate us every day.
The good news is that even while preparing to find the non-existent offices for the non-existent bail bondsman, both of them were suspicious about why he did not want them to come to his office. He continuously demanded that they just send the four thousand dollars worth of cards to him.
The scammer really only wanted the serial number to each of the purchased cards. Folks who pull these scams can collect the money without ever physically receiving the cards. He only gave them a bogus address to buy more time in his ruse while trying to talk them into sending him the money.
The best news is that they stopped at our counter for directions to a non-existent location.
Be careful: people in official capacity do not want iTunes cards, Green Dot cards, or any other plastic mechanism which allows money to be transferred through wireless means.
Keep your hands to yourself, leave other people’s things alone, and be kind to one another.
We will be here.
TC
“The Cop” series is a feature of the Bangor Police Department Facebook page. This post was originally published on May 24, 2018 on Bangor Maine Police Department Facebook page.
