How My Worst Nightmare as a Parent Turned Out to Be a Scam

My personal journey to the edge and back

I am a pediatrician and parent coach who thought I would never fall for any of those phone scams you hear about. Well, I am a bit embarrassed to admit this, but it’s important to share my experience with other parents. I almost fell for a scam that takes advantage of one of a parent’s worst nightmares.

I am sitting in my family room and I see a number with a 213 area code pop up. I answer it because my 22-year-old daughter lives in Los Angeles. Sometimes she uses a friend’s phone to call me when her phone is dead. I also know a lot of people in Los Angeles whose numbers may not be in my contacts.

A person who sounds like my daughter says, “Mom,” and then immediately starts sobbing hysterically. She says that she was in a car accident. She has a broken nose and ribs, and she has been charged with a DUI, reckless endangerment, and some other charges. The person who sounds like my daughter is talking really fast and is frantic.

My heart stops. I start shaking, and lose ALL my composure. I run downstairs to the basement where my husband is on an important business call. I interrupt and put him on the phone. He also talks to our hysterical “daughter.”

It sounds like her to both of us. But if you’re sobbing uncontrollably, you can sound like a lot of people to distraught parents. The LA detention center number is also on our caller id so it looks legit.

Her assigned public defender then comes on to say that our daughter swears she wasn’t drinking. The DUI charge will be dropped once the blood test comes back. He says that right now she is in the infirmary in the detention center, and they are attending to her medical needs. He talks to my husband for 9 min giving a court date, case number, and other details of the case.

Apparently, my daughter hit another car. The driver of that car is 6 months pregnant, and her 8-year-old child is in critical condition with a head injury. The bail is $90,000 but they will release my daughter after we pay a bail bond of $9000. He gives us a number to call to post bail.

My husband finally suspects it’s a scam right at the end of the conversation…thank God! He tells the “public defender” that our daughter’s medical condition and release are his primary concern. He says that he’ll pray for the mother and 8-year-old as well as pray for his family.

At this point, the guy probably feels guilty because he suddenly decides to backtrack. He says, “Perhaps we have a case of mistaken identity. Can you check and try to reach your daughter?” That’s the point when my husband gets suspicious.

Of course, our daughter doesn’t answer her phone, so we try to track her down via her friends and their family. Thank goodness we had the phone numbers of her housemates and their parents.

It turns out she was dead asleep at home in her bed in LA, while I was an emotional wreck. When she finally face-times me, I start sobbing with tears of relief. She looks at me still sleepy-eyed, clueless of my recent emotional rollercoaster ride.

We will report this but be aware. We were fortunate to realize it was a scam before we paid any money.

So all I can say is that be on the alert if you receive a call from a loved one who’s in trouble and needs money right away. Call their phone and if you can’t reach them, track them down yourself before paying anything. If someone says they are in the hospital or in jail, verify the situation. After you hang up, look up the number yourself, and call the facility to confirm your relative is there.

I have read that scammers pretend that they have kidnapped your child or that you owe money to the IRS. But reading about these ploys makes no difference. They go out of their way to arouse your worst fears and play on your emotions. Hopefully, after reading about my experience, you won’t be fooled if you ever get one of these calls.

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