Tulsa Woman Says She's Victim To Scam Targeting Families Who Have Had Family Members Arrested

A Tulsa woman says a new twist on an old scam is hitting families who have had family members arrested.

She's out more than $700 and the whole time, she thought she was helping her nephew.

Lyndsay Hasbrouck's nephew was arrested last week in Texas.

He called his family from jail, and an hour later, the family got a call from someone saying they were the sheriff, and there was a spot in a rehab program for her nephew.

“He was really knowledgeable about the program, he knew personal details about my nephew, like where he was, that my sister-in-law was his mother, he knew her name,” Lyndsay said.

Lyndsay sent $725 dollars through Apple Pay to reserve a spot.

When her nephew was not released from jail, she knew something was up.

“He said, oh the holiday weekend got me all messed up, he's not going to be getting released until Tuesday morning, and I immediately knew then it was a scam because that is when I was supposed to send the rest of the money,” she said.

She went back to look at the invoice, but when she clicked the link, a different name and number popped up.

She called that number and learned it was someone else being scammed.

“Had a real similar story, he talked to his daughter, she's in jail, he gets a call about an hour later from someone claiming to be with a special program, and he's going to help get her out,” Lyndsay said.

She called six people from Texas to Georgia, letting them know they were all victims.

She says what's tricky, is they ask for hundreds, not thousands.

“I think when people hear that they think, oh I have, I can do that, that's great I want to help my family member,” she said.

She says it's wrong for scammers to take advantage of anyone, let alone people who just want to help their loved ones.

“It's not necessarily the money that I'm most concerned with, it was that my whole family felt very relieved that he was finally going to get some help, he was going to get into a program, and it just turned out to be a scam,” she said.

Lyndsay says she's working with her bank to get her money back, and her nephew is still in jail, but they are working to find him a spot in a legitimate rehab program.