Law enforcement agencies all over the country are warning people about the latest flavor of bail bonds scam.

Late last year, a grandfather was targeted by an unknown caller saying his granddaughter had been arrested on drug charges and it was going to cost $1,800 to get her out of jail. But if he wired a bail bonds payment through Western Union, she'd be released from custody right away.

Earlier this year, Philadelphia residents started getting calls from con artists who were pretending to be calling on behalf of the police or sheriff's department.  In this scam, the fake officer was telling the person who answered that if they didn't buy bail bonds by phone, right then, a warrant would be issued for their arrest.

Police and sheriff's deputies never place calls requesting money be sent by wire-  and neither to bonafide bail agents.  If you get a call like this, consider it a big red flag.

Sorting the good and the bad from the ugly

If you do find yourself in a position where you've been asked to help get someone out of jail you should also ask a lot of questions so you can search out a reliable, professional agency.

Although a great number of bail bonds professionals work on the up and up, there are certainly a number of bad apples among the crop.

Not only are they responsible for giving the industry a bad name, they're also behaving in ways that are downright illegal.

For example, have you ever driven past a police station or jail and seen a swarm of bail agents hovering about like flies?  Well that's against the law.   So is hiring a convicted inmate to help solicit clients while they are serving time behind bars.

Others will even pull up arrest and booking logs and search out contact numbers for a defendant's friends and family members.  This is also a big fat no-no.   Unless a company is contacted by a defendant, who ask them to call you on their behalf, it's illegal for agents to cold-call their loved ones.

How this is hurting the industry

The problem with this type of illegal behavior is that it shines a poor light on the industry as a whole;  in cases where things have gotten really out of hand, legislators have started to question whether they should just scrap the bail bonds industry altogether.

But when that does happen, it's a raging disaster.

In Texas, a recent study found that failure-to-appear defendants are costing taxpayers more than $1 million a year in administrative costs- and that doesn't include the time, money and effort that law enforcement needs to put forth to track them down.

Bail bonds companies do all this as a part of their business model- and defendants who hire a bondsman are the least likely to skip out on court.

The more you know...

If you find yourself in a position where you need to get someone you care for out of jail, be sure to hire a company that's been around for a long time and has a good reputation.

Stay away from seedy bondsmen who are passing out flyers outside the jail or courthouse, and if someone walks up to you and hands you a card, hand it back and say "no thanks".

Again, these types of actions are punishable by state law. If the agent is caught they could face fines, penalties, the loss of their bail license or even jail time.  Not only is preying on families during a stressful time of need immoral, it's illegal.

The bottom line is this, needing to arrange bail bonds is stressful enough, so when you do decide to hire someone, make sure they're honest, reputable and a person you can trust.