Pa. woman lost $2K in telephone "jail scam"

MONROEVILLE, Pa. - A Monroeville, Pa. woman lost $2,000 in a telephone scam in which someone posed as her son's best friend and asked for money to be bailed out of jail, reports CBS Pittsburgh.

The woman, who asked not to be identified, 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 told the station. "Get him out of jail, that was my thought."

He said he was calling from jail, he'd been hurt in an accident and he could only make one, brief 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, reports CBS Pittsburgh station.

The woman withdrew the money from her bank and then sent it through MoneyPak after purchasing four cards at a pharmacy nearby using PayPal.

Then, she got a second call saying "Dan" now needed $3,500 more for court costs, according to the station. That's when it hit her -- she'd been duped.

She soon learned the real "Dan" was neither in an accident nor in jail.

Now, she says she hopes others will learn from her mistakes.

"Question everything; don't start handing out money until you know what's going on," she told the station.