A Hilton Head Island grandpa was scammed out of thousands of dollars over the phone

A Hilton Head Island grandpa was scammed out of thousands of dollars after someone called, pretending his grandson was in trouble.

The man received a call on Tuesday that his grandson was arrested on drug charges in Miami and he needed $4,000 immediately to take care of his bail, according to a Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office report. The victim said the man — who claimed to be an attorney representing the grandson — was very convincing. The grandfather purchased two Best Buy gift cards worth $2,000 each and gave the man the card numbers over the phone.

He received a call the following morning from the same man, saying his grandson now needed an additional $3,000 for court fees, according to the report. The victim sent $1,500 through another Best Buy gift card. When a third call asking for money came Thursday morning, the victim told the man he wouldn’t give any more money and became suspicious.

The man called his grandson, who said he had been on Hilton Head Island all week and wasn’t in any kind of trouble, according to the report. The victim was able to put one of the gift cards on hold through Best Buy, but the others had already been used in Florida on Friday. The man is still working with Best Buy and the Sheriff’s Office to get more information on the card numbers and where they were used, according to the report.

This story was originally published March 12, 2017 at 4:07 PM with the headline "A Hilton Head Island grandpa was scammed out of thousands of dollars over the phone."