A grandchild calls saying they are in jail and need bail money
A caller pretends to be a grandchild (or that grandchild's lawyer) saying they have been arrested after a car crash and need bail money wired or paid in gift cards immediately. The caller begs the victim not to tell other family members.
Also known as: grandparent scam, family emergency scam, bail money scam
Already happened to you? Do this in the next few minutes
- 1 Call your bank or card's fraud line right now. Use the number on the back of your card — not any number from the message or caller. Ask them to stop or reverse the payment and freeze the account.
- 2 If you paid by gift card, wire, or an app (Zelle, Venmo, Cash App): contact that company immediately and report it as fraud. Acting fast sometimes recovers the money.
- 3 Report to the FBI at ic3.gov and the FTC at reportfraud.ftc.gov. The sooner, the better.
What to do right now
- 1 Hang up. Take a breath. Call your grandchild's known number directly to verify
- 2 Ask the caller a question only the real person would know — but real scammers will hang up if you try
- 3 Real bail bondsmen and lawyers do not ask for gift cards or cryptocurrency, ever
- 4 Do not give your address to anyone who offers to send a courier to pick up cash
- 5 Report to the FTC at https://reportfraud.ftc.gov and the FBI's IC3 at https://www.ic3.gov.
Red flags
- ⚠ Urgency and secrecy — 'don't tell mom and dad, I'm embarrassed'
- ⚠ Payment demanded as gift cards, wire transfer, cash courier, or cryptocurrency
- ⚠ The caller's voice sounds slightly off and they avoid specifics that only the real grandchild would know
- ⚠ A 'lawyer' or 'bail bondsman' calls back to keep the pressure on
- ⚠ AI voice-cloning tools can clone a grandchild's voice from as little as 3 seconds of social media audio — the voice may sound convincingly real even if the story is wrong
If you get this call, slow down. The whole scam runs on panic. The scammer counts on you being too rattled to verify.
Real jails, lawyers, and bail bondsmen do not call families and demand gift cards, prepaid debit cards, or cryptocurrency. They do not ask for cash to be wrapped and handed to a courier at your door. If anyone on the phone says any of those things, it is a scam.
If you have already sent money: call your bank immediately and ask them to attempt a reversal. Time matters. Then report to the FTC and IC3.
Sources
- FTC — Family emergency scams
- AARP — Grandparent scam: how it works
- BBB — Scammers Using AI Voice Cloning to Impersonate Family Members (Apr 2026)
- SavingAdvice — AI Voice Cloning Scams: 1 in 4 people affected, up to $15,000 lost (May 2026)
- SavingAdvice — AI Voice Scams Explode: 77% of targeted victims lost $500–$15,000 (May 2026)
- FTC — Never Ever campaign / World Elder Abuse Awareness Day (Jun 15, 2026)
- Fox News / FBI IC3 — $352 million in AI scam losses targeting adults over 60 in 2025
- FBI — Seniors lost $7.75 billion to cybercrime in 2025, a 59% jump