I was the intended victim of a scam using my son's voice. And here's the story. I was on my way to work. My phone rang. It was my son. He was crying. He said, Dad, I was in an accident. I hit another car being driven by a pregnant woman. My nose is broken. They arrested me. I'm in jail.
They assign a public defender to me. His name is Barry Goldstein. You need to call him. I said Brett. I'll call him and I'll call you right back. He said you can't. They took my phone. Help me, Dad.
Before I could do anything, my phone rings again. It's Barry Goldstein. I just met with your son.
He said I should take some steps if I wanted to, to bail my son out. I said, Of course I want to do that. He said, Well, I'll give you the phone number for the courtroom courthouse, and here's your son's case number.
I immediately called the courthouse. They answered correctly. I tell them why I'm calling. They said, What's your son's name? They asked for the case number. They said, yes, your son's here. Bail was set at $90,000. You need to post 10%. $9,000 to bail him out.
Hang up. I call Mr. Goldstein back. Mr. Goldstein, can you post the bond for my son? Yes. You need to wire me $9,000. He said I'm a member of a credit union, so you need to take the cash to a certain kiosk, which will get the money to me. And I'm scheduled to leave for a conference in California.
I'll be leaving to the airport in two hours. So you need to move quickly. I learned later that that kiosk was a Bitcoin kiosk that would convert the money to cryptocurrency. I hang up. All of these calls happened in a in two minutes. This is the first time I had a chance to think. I called my daughter-in-law and suggested that she call work and tell them that my son wasn't going to make it today because he was in an accident.
A few minutes later, FaceTime call from my son. He's pointing to his nose. He goes, my nose is fine. I'm fine. You're being scammed.
(end of video)
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