SAN DIEGO — The victim asked News 8 not to use her name, but she shared security video showing the end of an elaborate scam. It shows a suspect walking up to a grandmother's door in Clairemont and then the grandma handing her an envelope filled with $9,000 in cash.
The scam all started with a phone call.
"When I answered the phone and said 'hello' and I couldn't recognize the voice, he said 'hi, grandma.' I said 'oh, hi honey,'" said the grandma.
She said someone pretending to be her 18-year-old grandson called Tuesday morning, pleading for her help to get him out jail.
"He said grandma 'I'm sick and I need to get out of here.' It psychologically put me in a mood - all I thought was getting him out," she said.
The caller had an elaborate story of going to the doctor because he has strep throat and then getting into a car crash because he was on his cell phone.
"He said 'it was a criminal offense like a DUI because I endangered another person, so now they took me to jail,'" added the grandma.
Here's the kicker, he told her not to tell anyone especially not his mom and dad because he wanted to tell them in person.
Then a fake attorney asked her to get $9,000 in cash and told her that she would get the money back after her grandson was out of jail.
He even told her what to tell the bank.
"The scam attorney told me to just tell them that you are doing upgrades on your house," she said.
That same day, a woman sent to collect the money was at her front door.
"[She was] African American, attractive girl. I noticed her eyes were very pretty. She had an Ashley necklace on. She had on a blue mask and seemed to be 5'6'' or 5'7'', average build." said the grandma.
If you have any information on those involved in this scam, call the San Diego Police Department's Northern Division at 858-522-1700 and reference the case number #20029557.
After this story aired, a News 8 viewer reached out and said she had fallen for the same scam. The woman said she paid $7,600 after receiving a call with the same story that her grandson was in jail. She said she has reported her case to the El Cajon Police Department.