SAN MARCOS -- Dorothy Beasley was duped. Now she wants others to learn from her embarrassing mistake.

The 87-year-old grandmother and Lake San Marcos resident was bilked out of $10,000 last week when she wired money to two men who turned out to be scam artists. One claimed to be her grandson, Joran, stuck in a Vancouver, Canada, jail after a DUI arrest and car wreck. The other said he was her grandson's public defender and offered to help bail out Joran.

"Those guys were smooth," Beasley said Friday. "I was trying to help out. They were pretty darn convincing."

Joran's impersonator told Beasley he sounded different because he had the flu, adding that he'd spent two nights in the hospital after the car wreck.

He also told her not to call his mother and father because he didn't want them to know. So, she didn't.

Authorities say that's one of the places Beasley went wrong.

"Hang up," is the advice San Marcos Detective Joe Culver gives when you suspect a scam. Or if someone claims to be a relative in trouble, "just make a few phone calls and check it out."

"Most (police) departments or jails now can tell you over the phone or online whether someone's in custody," added Sgt. Mark Varnau, of the sheriff's department's financial crimes unit.

He noted that the "relative in distress" scam is an old and frequent one.

Culver said Beasley's case has yet to be assigned to a detective. Once it is, detectives will trace the wire transfer as far as possible, he said.

Beasley said she doesn't expect to ever get the money back. She just wants others to learn from her mistake, she said.

"Why go through this and not have something positive come out of it?" she said.

Call staff writer Chris Nichols at 760-740-5426.