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Have a friend whose father was scammed out of thousands of dollars. The ploy was that an "attorney" from another state called to say how the college-aged grandson was in trouble and that the fastest way to make bail and retain said attorney was to purchase thousands of dollars in gift cards that are redeemable online and then read the redemption codes off. He ended up buying something like $15k in gift cards in one place and read them off, and sure enough the scammer hung up right after getting all the info.

It all sounds obviously fishy to you and I, but an intelligent but panicked elderly man concerned about his grandson's wellbeing fell for it. They don't need very many victims to make it worth their while.