Reed Point man falls victim to jewelry scam

Hi to all

This is the story of Craig Buckner

REED POINT — On Easter Sunday, Craig Buckner was doing yard work at his Reed Point home when a man approached him, asking for a helping hand. Buckner believed him and obliged to his request, only to be scammed out of $15,000.

“I was in my front yard. Two o’clock in the afternoon on Easter Sunday. All by myself, nobody’s in town. And here’s the only schmuck on the street,” Buckner said on Tuesday. “He pulled up and goes, ‘Hey, hey can you help me?’ with a deep Turkish accent. This is his MO. He’ll always be with his son, his wife, or his wife and some of his children. And he’s always claiming that he’s from out of the country, from Turkey, and he’s a businessman. He’s extremely wealthy. He’s draped in this crap."

Buckner has lived in Reed Point for 17 years and has never been asked anything like this from anyone, stranger or friend. Buckner said the man asked for $20,000 in exchange for what he claimed to be $300,000 worth of gold jewelry. Buckner told the man he had $15,000 in cash that he had saved up over the years and agreed to exchange the large sum for the jewelry. The man stated he would return on Tuesday to pay Buckner back in exchange for the jewelry, but Buckner quickly learned that was all a lie.

The $15,000 he handed over was money he and his late wife, Bonnie, worked for 27 years to save. Bonnie died 15 months ago following a battle with lung cancer, which Buckner attributes to his willingness to lend a hand nowadays.

“So it was 15 months ago I lost her. So I’ve been kind of in a, you know, grief is tough. Comes and goes," Buckner said. "So it’s not beyond me to do a lot of things for others at this time."

He took the jewelry to a Billings gold dealer to be evaluated and was told he was the victim of a fake jewelry scam.