Police: Bail Scam Costs Framingham Victim Thousands of Dollars

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FRAMINGHAM – Framingham Police are investigating a bail scam that cost a Framingham victim “several thousand dollars.”

Police received the call about the scam on December 31, just after 4 p.m. on Pincushion Road.

The victim told Police a “caller claimed someone known to the victim needed bail money.”

The bail was for “several thousand dollars,” said Police spokesperson Lt. Rachel Mickens.

“Someone was then sent to pick up the bail money, which was given,” said Lt. Mickens. “The individual was in a white Toyota.  Described as a black male, with a mustache and short black hair.”

In October 2022, a senior citizen in Framingham was deceived out of $16,000 in a bail scam.

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In some bail scams, the caller claims to be a bondsman helping a relative arrested or involved in an accident and urgently asks the individual for bail money.

AARP recommends the following tips, if someone calls and demands bail money:

• Hang up immediately and call the family member in question, on a known number, to make sure they’re safe. With luck, they’ll answer, and you’ll know the supposed emergency call is a scam.
• Contact other family members or friends if you have any concern that the emergency could be real. Scammers plead with you to keep the situation a secret precisely so you won’t try to confirm it.
• Trust your instincts. As the American Bar Association advises, if something doesn’t feel right, it probably isn’t.

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• Don’t drop your guard because the number on your caller ID looks familiar. Scammers can use technological tricks to make it appear that they’re calling from a trusted number, the Federal Communications Commission warns.
• Don’t volunteer information — scammers fish for facts they can use to make the impersonation believable.
• Don’t send cash, wire money, or provide numbers from gift or cash-reload cards to a person claiming to be a relative. Scammers prefer those payment methods because they’re difficult to trace.
• Don’t panic, no matter how dire the relative’s predicament sounds. Scam artists want to get you upset to distract you from spotting the scam