OAK RIDGE, Tenn. — It was last Friday morning when Jonna Datz received a phone call. The voice on the other line sounded like her grandson. It was an urgent call. She was told her grandson's father had gotten into an accident and was in big trouble.
She was worried because if she didn't pay money to bail him out, he could go to jail. They were asking for $9,000 and they prohibited her from speaking to anyone, claiming there was a gag order.
The call turned out to be a scam, and she lost thousands of dollars.
"I was never afraid. I was so grateful that they were helping my grandson," she said. "It made me feel touched, that he would trust me to help him. And I wanted, of course, to help him so he wouldn't have to stay in jail."
Datz worked at the University of Tennessee and said she can't believe she fell for it. She said that a person appeared at her doorstep after the call, who said his name was "Gordon." She gave him the money in cash, hoping it would help her grandson's father.
She said that when she called him later that evening, his number was out of service. She said that was when she realized she has been scammed.
She said she called the Oak Ridge Police Department to report the scam. They said they collected the information she could provide by did not arrest anyone.
Anyone who finds themselves in a similar situation should also report the scam to authorities.