beware of scams

[FREE866]

please read this article...so scary


https://www.latimes.com/business/sto...pandemic-scams


Things got so bad last year, AARP issued a warning for all seniors to take a deep breath and think twice during the pandemic before succumbing to pleas for cash from a supposed loved one.
I wrote recently about Sharon Sloan, 79, who came very close to wiring $30,000 to someone purporting to be her grandson.
“I swear to God it sounded just like him,” the Long Beach resident told me.

[marko]

Happened to my mom (age 91) a month ago.

Just by pure luck I called her minutes after she got a call from "me" saying that I had been arrested and she needed to come up with $20K for bail. She was frantic! She is generally 99% 'with it' but was convinced it was me "it sounded just like you". It took her several minutes to un-believe what happened.

The guy even offered to pick her up and take her to the bank.

We now have a code word. Whenever she's in doubt, she asks the code word. (of course the last time we tried it, she gave ME the code word instead of the other way around...but....)

[cxr133]

Quote:

Originally Posted by marko Happened to my mom (age 91) a month ago. Just by pure luck I called her minutes after she got a call from "me" saying that I had been arrested and she needed to come up with $20K for bail. She was frantic! She is generally 99% 'with it' but was convinced it was me "it sounded just like you". It took her several minutes to un-believe what happened. The guy even offered to pick her up and take her to the bank. We now have a code word. Whenever she's in doubt, she asks the code word. (of course the last time we tried it, she gave ME the code word instead of the other way around...but....)

LOl I am very concerned about these types of scams if you give me your moms phone number sans the code word I will call and check up on her LOL

[RetireBy90]

I seem to hear all too often about someone who knows better falling for a scam or clicking on a link. A friend from a Caribbean island that retired as O6 from the Navy and had a very successful career ended up loosing his BMW to a scammer from his island. He had lost cognitive abilities, but it scares me that these criminals are good enough to steal his car and he wouldn’t report it.

[Montecfo]

Well, the problem with warning elderly folks about scams is that many elderly folks remain vulnerable to them after warning Why? It is a con and it tugs at their emotions and they lose natural skepticism. And once it becomes clear they lack some skills at discerning scams, they may have already been ripped off.

And they may not remember our warnings, code words, etc.due to reduced ability to learn and remember.

Best tack in my opinion is to put hurdles in the way of any large money movements, make credit cards the prepaid type, and convince them to surrender the checkbook and let someone else manage the finances.

[YVRRocketSurgery]

It seems this scam's been around for a while. My buddy mentioned it happened to his folks a few years ago and fortunately, similar to the article, while his father was on the line, his mother tracked down his real brother.

These scams always seem involve some kind of urgency and realistically, there's rarely any situation that requires urgent payment. Or threaten jail for dumb reasons.
Secondly, a lot of the scams seem to require payment in bitcoin or apple/google gift cards. What legitamit organization requires payment in bitcoins or gift cards?!?

However, I feel really bad for many victims because it's probably hard to appreciate how much your cognitive ability may decline over the years to make you more susceptible. That's why seniors are frequently targeted.

[Nemo2]

Oops..never mind

[Souschef]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Montecfo Well, the problem with warning elderly folks about scams is that many elderly folks remain vulnerable to them after warning Why? It is a con and it tugs at their emotions and they lose natural skepticism. And once it becomes clear they lack some skills at discerning scams, they may have already been ripped off. And they may not remember our warnings, code words, etc.due to reduced ability to learn and remember. Best tack in my opinion is to put hurdles in the way of any large money movements, make credit cards the prepaid type, and convince them to surrender the checkbook and let someone else manage the finances.

I remember a sad story on Dr. Phil. This lady was a victim of catfishing and lost a lot of money. When they showed her the real man that was supposed to be the man she met, she still did not believe it.

[marko]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Montecfo Best tack in my opinion is to put hurdles in the way of any large money movements, make credit cards the prepaid type, and convince them to surrender the checkbook and let someone else manage the finances.

+1

This is where we are. The caller started losing interest when mom said that I was the only one who knew how to get her the $20K needed to get me out of jail. "He (me) handles all my money, I don't know how to do that".

[Montecfo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by marko +1 This is where we are. The caller started losing interest when mom said that I was the only one who knew how to get her the $20K needed to get me out of jail. "He (me) handles all my money, I don't know how to do that".

well done. It feels sad to have to do this but you are protecting your mom, and that is the best way. it is no different than any other physical type aids she (we) need as we age.

[brett]

A friend of ours worked in a bank. More than once she interceded and stopped a senior from withdrawing large amounts of cash or doing unusual transfers.

This is more common than many people would imagine.

[Walt34]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Montecfo Best tack in my opinion is to put hurdles in the way of any large money movements, make credit cards the prepaid type, and convince them to surrender the checkbook and let someone else manage the finances.

That's what we did with my mother, and fortunately she didn't mind handing off all the normal bills to me. She kept her checkbook for shopping (this was 1998 so not unusual then) and I kept about $500 in that account so she could buy her normal stuff, send gifts to grandkids, etc. and if someone stole that from her it wouldn't be a major catastrophe. Everything else was kept at my house.

Now a solution would be a low-limit credit card and keep everything else separate.

[YVRRocketSurgery]

Quote:

Originally Posted by brett A friend of ours worked in a bank. More than once she interceded and stopped a senior from withdrawing large amounts of cash or doing unusual transfers. This is more common than many people would imagine.

I've come across a handful of news articles and tv segments where a senior ended up going to the bank to withdraw a large sum of cash as the scam proceeds and are coached by the scam artists what to say if they are questioned about the withdrawal by the bank. The family ends up going to the local news to complain that the bank didn't do enough to prevent their parent from getting scammed. On the otherhand, the bank's usual side of the story is that the teller did question why the senior is taking out such a large sum of cash and warns of scams but in the end can't stop someone from accessing their money.

[Badger]

This can happen within the family too. My brother who had POA for my mother ... My sister and I caught him at it.


Cheers!

[Dtail]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Badger This can happen within the family too. My brother who had POA for my mother ... My sister and I caught him at it. Cheers!

That's pretty disgusting.

[vrijheid]

Quote:

Originally Posted by brett A friend of ours worked in a bank. More than once she interceded and stopped a senior from withdrawing large amounts of cash or doing unusual transfers. This is more common than many people would imagine.

I took care of my father in-law after my husband passed. My DFIL was showing early signs of dementia but was still able to live on his own. He did put me on his bank account so I could pay his bills. I would go with him sometimes to his bank and became familiar with the tellers and bank manager.

In paying his bills I noticed several things: he had many checks written to various Help The Children funds, hospitals, unknown veterans groups and magazine subscriptions etc. He received numerous phone calls from telemarketers and he always sent them money. I tried unsuccessfully to stop these calls and mail solicitations and I finally had to have his calls forwarded to my phone and his mail forwarded to my address in order to stop that nonsense.

Then one day as I was balancing his checkbook I noticed $300 weekly withdrawals. I called the bank manager to see if they noticed anything odd or if anyone else was coming into the bank with him. They had noticed that he took the money out but no one was with him. I checked with his cleaning lady and the restaurant where he ate lunch to see if there was anything unusual going on. Nothing.

The withdrawals continued. I finally asked him about it. DFIL said, “Go look in my top dresser drawer in the bedroom.” There was $10,000 sitting in there! I said to him, “How about if I deposit that in the bank for you?” He was agreeable. He continued his weekly withdrawals and I would occasionally deposit his stash back into his bank.

I think it was just his routine with my DMIL to go to the bank and withdraw money to keep on hand. I think it was a comfort measure for him, a routine that he enjoyed and missed. My DMIL at that time was in end stage Alzheimer’s.

Long story short....be aware enough to stop the scammers but also allow for routine that brings comfort. It’s a hard thing to watch happen to people you love.

[Dtail]

Quote:

Originally Posted by vrijheid I took care of my father in-law after my husband passed. My DFIL was showing early signs of dementia but was still able to live on his own. He did put me on his bank account so I could pay his bills. I would go with him sometimes to his bank and became familiar with the tellers and bank manager. In paying his bills I noticed several things: he had many checks written to various Help The Children funds, hospitals, unknown veterans groups and magazine subscriptions etc. He received numerous phone calls from telemarketers and he always sent them money. I tried unsuccessfully to stop these calls and mail solicitations and I finally had to have his calls forwarded to my phone and his mail forwarded to my address in order to stop that nonsense. Then one day as I was balancing his checkbook I noticed $300 weekly withdrawals. I called the bank manager to see if they noticed anything odd or if anyone else was coming into the bank with him. They had noticed that he took the money out but no one was with him. I checked with his cleaning lady and the restaurant where he ate lunch to see if there was anything unusual going on. Nothing. The withdrawals continued. I finally asked him about it. DFIL said, “Go look in my top dresser drawer in the bedroom.” There was $10,000 sitting in there! I said to him, “How about if I deposit that in the bank for you?” He was agreeable. He continued his weekly withdrawals and I would occasionally deposit his stash back into his bank. I think it was just his routine with my DMIL to go to the bank and withdraw money to keep on hand. I think it was a comfort measure for him, a routine that he enjoyed and missed. My DMIL at that time was in end stage Alzheimer’s. Long story short....be aware enough to stop the scammers but also allow for routine that brings comfort. It’s a hard thing to watch happen to people you love.

Thoughtful post.

[Bryan Barnfellow]

In 2004 my wife and I helped her early 80s year old father move from the state he retired in to ours so that he would be close to us. We took him to the local branch of his bank to register his account with his new address. He had some memory issues and the bank official who was handling the transfer got a worried look on her face as he looked to us to help him answer her questions about his account. She then asked him if he felt he was being kidnapped or forced to do this change against his will. He laughed and said no, she laughed, and I laughed.

My wife, his daughter, did not laugh and was furious afterward when we were alone in the car. She felt that her honor and ethics were being questioned. I said I was very glad she asked and in no way took it personally because she didn't know us and was performing her duty with respect to an elderly person. In fact, after we concluded our business I thanked her for looking out for our "Daddio."


-BB

[Jerry1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bryan Barnfellow I was very glad she asked and in no way took it personally because she didn't know us.

Exactly. My DW once dialed 911 by mistake and just hung up. They called back and she said she was okay. Minutes later, Mr. Police Officer knocks on our door, questions me and asks me to step out of the house while other officer talks to DW. A pain, yes, but glad they are that concerned for DW’s (women in general) well being.

As for scams, I’ve been scammed a couple times. Very minor thankfully. Actually, they were so minor, they ended up being inexpensive life lessons. Bottom line is that these guys are good. Ruthless, cunning and opportunistic.

I was working with a guy who’s dad got caught with the Microsoft service scam. Thing is, he was having difficulty with his computer at that exact moment. He fell right into it. You just never know. It will probably be hard, but I’ll let my daughters take control over at least the bulk of my money once I get to a certain point. Just hope I’m not too stubborn for my own good.

[Scrapr]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jerry1 As for scams, I’ve been scammed a couple times. Very minor thankfully. Actually, they were so minor, they ended up being inexpensive life lessons. Bottom line is that these guys are good. Ruthless, cunning and opportunistic.

I fell for the gas can in the parking lot scam. Gave him $5.00. Felt all good about myself. Realized later i was a chump. Ehhh...it was $5