So if you'll recall, someone tried to scam my mom right after Dad died.
Told her there were 'government grants' and all she had to do was get him a small percentage. My brother foiled that one.
Mom still has some doubts, though. Because 'Bill' was a friend of my father and would never do anything harmful to her. She can't seem to grasp the idea that anyone online can say anything at all and that it doesn't have to be true. Soooo gullible.
It wasn't Bill, dammit!!
Recently Mabel ("She's 92 and she still lives at home and takes care of
her husband!") sent Mom a photo of a table piled with stacks of cash and
said that she was making so much money taking care of her husband that
she couldn't even spend it all!
Again, all Mom needed to do was send processing fees to Mabel!
Why, Mabel wouldn't even charge for her help, she was just happy to do something for my poor, sad mother.
Steve said, "Mom, do you know Mabel? Like in real life?"
"Not in person, but she's very nice, I met her on FB!"
"Mom. You're talking to another scammer. There are no grants. No tables piled with money."
My sister in law found my dad's sheet of passwords
and fixed Mom's FB account. Got rid of all the Mabels and Bills and
scammers. Locked it down so she can't get friend requests. No one can message her except the people who aren't blocked, now.
When my sister in law got into Mom's FB, there were 14 Bill Wilcoxes on her friend list. All with the same profile photo and words and location information. It wasn't difficult to block all the imposters.
Speaking of location information, Mom's actual physical address and telephone numbers were on her damn account!
So I'm sure she will be getting some scammer checks to 'help' her. Maybe Mabel will send her one. Which will be followed by the inevitable "Oops, I sent you too much can you wire some back to me?"
Steve has passed along that information to the bank, too. That there may be scammers sending her checks and for them to watch out for it.
That is one of the advantages of small town life, really.
So sad. May all the scammers rot in hell.
ReplyDeleteOne of the reasons I'd like to believe in hell, really.
DeleteFrightening and despicable. She's lucky she has you and the rest of the family looking out for her. Some elderly people have no one.
ReplyDeleteIt's really awful. Dad fell for the grandparent scam several years ago. I was so angry that some scummy piece of shit used my dad's love for his family against him. Dad was ashamed that he fell for it and the parents both said they were going to look into scams so they'd never fall for one again.
DeleteMy mother was certain she won Publishers Clearing House money. Some guy told here she did on the phone. Her neighbor was there and told her it was a scam. She half believed her but then complained to me that she caused her to lose all that money. I won't go into the trouble she could get herself into and then blamed everyone else for it. Luckily they were able to do something about it with your mother.
ReplyDeleteomg the Publisher's Clearing House shit. I recently read a story about a narcissistic mom who was so sure she'd won every year that she dressed her kids up, cleaned the house and had the kids watching out the windows for the van to drive up. Then blamed her children when it didn't happen, saying that god had found them sinful and they were the reason she didn't win. The blame game is always just so much fun, isn't it? Since they're wrong about it in the first place, there is nothing you can say to change their minds. It's just a sick dynamic that never goes away.
DeleteGod, it's great you caught all you did. This is sad, scary and dispictable!
ReplyDeleteMy brother caught it. So far, Mom hasn't told me about any of this. She doesn't even know that I know.
DeleteHopefully she doesn't get so excited about a scam that she doesn't tell you about it.
ReplyDeleteShe hasn't told me about any of them. She has no idea that basically everyone in the family knows that she's been targeted by scammers over and over. She also doesn't know that her FB has been fixed so that no one else can get to her that way. She also hasn't told my aunt about any of it. I think there's a part of her that knows she's being scammed but she wants to believe because it would help her.
DeleteI now work at a large, hunting and fishing store. In the customer service department.
ReplyDeleteI recently had a customer come in (and later he called cuz he didn't like my original answer). Apparently, Ted Nugent posted an ad on FB giving away a $2000 hunting bow package, sponsored by our store. All you needed to do was send him money for shipping. When I explained (attempted to at least) that that ad was a scam and we were not participating in any bow give away with Mr Nugent, the customer said "Well, I guess I can never trust Ted Nugent again." (That's where you go for life advice? Ted Nugent?)
I again tried to explain that it was somebody "pretending" to be Ted, he just didn't understand. It was sad and a little frustrating.
Please tell me you know who Ted Nugent is. My younger co-workers did not.
I do know who Ted Nugent is. And who he used to be. I do not understand how people fall for this stuff. Like the 'I do not give FB permission to use my words or photos' thing that goes around. Or that Zuckerberg is going to give everyone who forwards 'this' a buttload of money.
DeleteScamming Seniors is so prolific, becoz too many Old Timers Trust too easily. I'm one of those cynical Old folks and I barely Trust people I know in Real Life. *LOL* Even my Middle Aged Daughter and some Younger Women fall for the Online Scam Love Interest types, I'm sure a lot of Men do too. The Son said it's prolific for the 18-40 set to be scammed for Love and the Elderly to be scammed for Money... the Scammers know what their Target Victims desperately want or need and exploit it.
ReplyDeleteIt's just awful. Doesn't give me a lot of hope for humanity. I know people personally who'd NEVER fall for ______ but then they fall for some other scam. I'm in the 'trust no one' camp myself. They ARE all out to get me!!
DeleteHow awful that your Mom has been the target of these scammers, but I think they really go after our older citizens. My Mom was called with the ol’ “your Grandson is in jail and needs bail money”, but she didn’t fall for it. I had a scam text/email yesterday that I won something....I just deleted it without opening, because I knew (and I'm really not that lucky, haha).
ReplyDeleteDad fell for the grandparent scam a long time ago. Jeremy had been arrested in California and even though the detective 'knew the drugs found in the car weren't his' he was still looking at a 10 year prison sentence. Dad didn't even hesitate. It was 7 grand, if I recall correctly. I get scam calls and emails all the time. I don't answer my phone (haha, even when it's someone I know) and I delete the emails.
DeleteI hate how there are so many scammers out there.
ReplyDeleteMakes me wish there was a god who would actually smite them.
Delete