Cedar Rapids Woman Falls Victim to 'Bail Money' Scam

By Justin Foss, Reporter

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By Becky Ogann

Story Created: Feb 3, 2010 at 12:10 PM CDT

Story Updated: Feb 3, 2010 at 1:15 PM CDT

CEDAR RAPIDS - A Cedar Rapids woman hopes no one else falls victim to what she calls a nasty scam.

This week, someone claiming to be a police officer in Canada called Jackie McNabb and said her granddaughter was in jail and needed bail money.

McNabb said they even put a girl on the phone that pretended to be her granddaughter.

She sent money once, and realized it was a scam by the time they called again.

"And he more or less said well, $900 isn't going to make a difference, your granddaughter is alright, she's not in jail. Well, she was never in jail," said Jackie McNabb, scam victim.

McNabb praises Wal-Mart employees that alerted her to the scam. When she went to make a second payment a clerk started asking her questions. McNabb says then, the clerk said it was a scam and refused to make the transaction.

The Iowa Attorney General's office says within the last week, three Iowans have fallen victim to the same scam. Authorities say Canada has almost eclipsed Nigeria in the volume of scams coming from there.

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