KNOX COUNTY, Tenn. — David Alleman was almost a victim of the grandparent scam that's made its way around the country.
Alleman said when he got a call on Friday afternoon, it sounded like his granddaughter. The woman on the phone told him his granddaughter's full name.
The woman told him she had been in a car accident and was in jail. She asked Alleman to call her 'lawyer', who had a New York phone number.
The 'lawyer' told Alleman his granddaughter had gotten into an accident with a woman who was seven months pregnant, and she had killed the baby. The 'lawyer' said bail had been set at $950,000 and Alleman would have to overnight $9,500 to a New York address to release his granddaughter.
"I was driving down Cedar Lane and going to the bank," Alleman said. "I thought, oh God, can we just rewind this day and started over and say that this did not happen."
When she came home, he realized it was a scam.
"I was elated. All we could do is hug and she was crying. I was crying. We were just so happy that it was not real," Alleman said.
The scheme took advantage of a grandfather's unconditional love.
"I would go to any extreme and give anything that I had to support my family, all my family," Alleman said. "They took advantage of it."
The grandparent scheme is well known, both in Tennessee and nationally. To prevent getting caught in this scheme, the FTC recommends resisting the urge to send money quickly, calling family members to see if the story is true and watching what you post on social media.