I got a call a couple weeks ago, saying it was my grandson. I ask for his name and he just said I am your grandson. Then I told him I did not have a grandson and he hung up. Bet it was the same kind of call. We really have to watch closely. What a shame. Can't help with getting her money back. Doubt that they will ever catch the culprit.

So sorry to hear about your Mom. Hope something can be done about it. that person that done that is a dirtbag....

Sorry this happened to your mom, that sucks!

We live in a town with a high retirement-age population (read: snowbirds), and every other week our town newspaper runs an ad warning people of this very scam.

I think it's sad that so many people continue to fall for this crap, but my grandmother was also one of them. I don't know that she ever got scammed out of money (my uncle was a signor on all her accounts for this reason), but she was constantly opening emails from spammers (often with viruses attached), and subsequently mucking up her computer. Then she'd complain that noone would help her get it fixed. :-(

Well I guess in this case, its a good thing we don't have much money. : )

I am so so sorry that this happened to your Mom. I certainly hope someone can help find this jerks. Everyone here has some excellent ideas in how to help her from this happening again to her. Best of luck.

I know of 2 other people that have been likewise scammed. They seem to prey upon older people using grandchildren as the decoy. I live in Canada and have heard of this scam from across the country.

It's time for you to take responsibility of Mom's money.

I am so sorry this happened to you and frankly think that people who take advantage of people like your Mom (with diminished mental capacity) are truly the scum of the earth.

I hope someone has ideas to catch this guy and get the money back!

My mother was scammed by a group who told her they were blacktopping in the area and had a little of the material left over. They didn't want to haul it back to "wherever" and would put it on her driveway for an amount. They would come back to finish the job later. They cashed her check promptly, did not come back and grass grew up in the thin layer of material they put down. If a salesman comes to your door, it's most likely a scam. If you want a job done, make the call yourself to a local contractor!

The sheriff told us these are a group of gypsies who routinely travel the country and they are experts at eyeballing properties where seniors live. No swing sets or bikes in the yard, model of car in the driveway, etc.

You never know whom to trust these days. My mother is 96 and in a care home now. I moved her from my brothers home two years ago. She continuted to stay with his wife after my brother died. I moved all her belongings to my garage and went through things one piece at a time. I was shocked to find cancelled checks and check registers showing money she'd given the daughter-in-law and all her kids. I discovered over 200 thousand over the past 10 years piddled away to those parasites. Since I've taken over her finances they are no longer getting hand outs. Now they don't even visit her because they know they won't get a check. The lawyer says I can't do anything about it as it will be looked at as gifts. Needless to say, those kids are in the process of losing their houses with tax sales and foreclosures. They took advantage of her because she couldn't see or understand what she was signing and wouldn't admit to anyone that she didn't understand. Didn't take me long to file for guardianship, the only way I could legally stop them from getting her signature.

This is terrible!!

Kimkankwilt:
Actually.. you may want to change your Mom's number. Once they get some one to bite on a scam, good bet they will keep her number and try again. :( :([/quote]

This happened to my friend's in-laws and they did call back a second time to get more money from them. Change the number!!!

My Dad had a pest company go to his house to give him a quote to treat the yard for bugs. The man looked around and told him the yard and house were infested with termites and it would cost $2,500 to get rid of them. Dad had just moved in a few months before and the house had gotten a clean termite report. So Dad called me and I told him not to do anything until DH & I talked to the pest company we used. We sent them out to look at Dad’s house and there were NO termites!!!

When my Dad was living alone I stopped by one night and I could tell he was troubled. He told me he gave his SSN to someone over the phone. After he did it he realized he shouldn't have. He said he thought it was the bank, but when he stopped at the bank to ask them he was told the bank never asks for SSN on the phone. For the next two days I put stops on accounts etc. Then a couple days later I was driving down the road and saw a sign for his car/home insurance company. Their name started out the same as his bank. On Monday I called the insurance company to ask if they had called my Dad. They checked his file and it was noted that they had called for his SSN. I went balistic when they told me that. I expressed my dissatisfaction with what they had done and explained to them why. Their response was they never thought of that. Oh my! I also told them in the future to call me!

So sorry this happened to your mom! Wish there was something we could do to get it back and stop these guys!
My mom and dad got tons of junk mail (I counted 25 one day). They all had such sob stories! One had an arrow going through the US from Mexico to Canada which just happened to be close to their home. It said the US was going to build a super interstate there. The width of said interstate would be the length of 9 football fields.
My mom also got a call, which I answered, where the guy tried to sound like he worked for our government and was verifying SS numbers for some reason. I couldn't understand everything of what he was saying due to his accent. He insisted on speaking with my mom and I refused until I spoke with someone else to understand what exactly the call was about. Instead of getting someone else on the line he hung up.
We all need to be aware, check things out, and talk to other people instead of doing the "knee jerk" reaction.

So sorry for her loss. You need to set up a private password with the bank to clear anything like that. She may not remember a password herself, but there may be something you could do to keep it from happening again

You need to put a second signer on her account so she can't withdraw money without one of you knowing about it...

It happened to my father-in-law. He got a phone call supposedly from my son (who is estranged from us) that he was arrested for a DUI in Canada and needed money to post bsil. My father-in-law called us and we were able find out that my son was not in Canada and they called the police. They were able to trace the call somewhat - but didn't catch anyone.

It really sucks that there are SOOOO many stories similar to my moms. I'm hoping the sonuvabitch calls back so we can set him up to get caught...but I'm sure he got what he needed and has moved on.

I don't know how she can get her money back...this is happening all over the world. A friend of a friend who lives full time in Israel said it happened there, too.

I am so sorry! it makes me sick when I hear of this type of thing happening, what is wrong with society today.

Have to tried to contact someone in Washington about this, I dont know which dept handles this, FCC, FTC? but you can report this, I dont think you can ever recover you money though.

Ugh so sad.

I'm so sorry someone took advantage of your mom like that. I would say call the police and the Attorney generals office of your state. Sadly, she will probably never get that money back but to help prevent this from happening to someone else it should be reported. I would also suggest going to the local newspaper with your story, it could stop someone from making the same mistake.

Someone tried the Nigerian scam on my sister, but she is sauvey enough to know she was being scammed. She got the guy to send her the checks he wanted cashed and she immediately contacted the police who turned them over to the FBI. They didn't get the person, but they were able to trace to the source of the mail which put them closer to finding the scammers. I guess every little bit helps.

Sorry to hear this. Get your mom an unlisted phone number ASAP.

Would that work for her even if she doesn't have to pay taxes?

This is so terrible. My friend just had a 600.00 auto repair in Spain. They really have their nerve. Well what goes around comes around, I surely don't feel sorry for those culprits.

Lets make sure Mom does not have access to money without a second signature from relative.
IdahoSandy

I used to work for Western Union. I would beg people not to send so much cash to Canada. One elderly woman lost every thing. the bank finally stepped in when she lost her house. They are the ones that called her family.
I am so sorry for your mom. Scams are not pretty. But you could call the police. I know they didn't help much here.

Absolutely!

Some banks query a large withdrawl and check it out.

I think to protect my mother from anything else like this I would secure her savings accounts with dual signatures.

Like you or one of your sibs need to sign on her accounts with her in order for her to transfer money. Then you would know first hand where that money is going, and it will be safe for when she really does need it.

So sorry to hear about this. After my husband's father died, some men came to my mother-in-law's house asking if she had work they could do. Before we knew what she was doing she had handed over huge sums for such projects as removing a tree (cutting it down and leaving it laying where it fell), repairing the foundation on her house and repairing her chimney (making a few swipes with a caulk gun) and other things. The sheriff estimated that she had given those con artists at least $20,000, judging by cancelled checks we had and what she told him about giving them cash. I understand that such con artists often read the obituary columns, preying especially on grieving folks who have lost their spouse of 50-plus years.

never ever put any personal info in social sites, about your self or family members. I know the world now revolves around facebook etc, but, so do predators. make your own private family blog site, (there are all kinds of free blog sites out there)family, not extended anybody/nobodys/ friend mes and dont include young kids because you must have passwords to access.

use skype or some such service to stay in contact with family.

turn off your house phone (and esp the phone for elderly family and get them those jitterbugs ).I cant tell you how many people called trying to get money out of the elderly people I watched who had alsheimers. I had a cellphone on me at all times, so I just finally unplugged the d- phones, cus it was aggravating them.

if they wont part with the phone find out if you can get a service where they can call out but there has to be a special way to call in - unlisted #s, and not everyone in the family has the # or whatever, so it doesnt get put out there for predatory types to grab. (but, I must say, since we dropped the house phone we never get any calls - 4 people have my #, hubs, 2 brothers, and 1 neighbor, before that we got at least 8 -10calls thru the day selling everything and asking for $$) Never ever ever put your phone # on anything in a contest online, on a form unless its for a dr or dentist

find out from the PO how to get on a list for no snail mail spam cus once theyre on that list they will find you over the phone. I can remember filling out something for the PO awhile back to stop junk mail

go to the bank and talk with someone on how to protect your accounts there.

and, in the end, people /strangers will be bold enough to walk right up to your door as try to scam - you MUST run them off, slam the door in their faces and call the police. We were at an Easter brunch , at least 14 of us and this guy came knocking, said his car broke down and could he have some cash - it was Easter after all - to get someone there to fix it. Hubs said he'd call the police for them, the guy practically tripped running down the drive and I got the tag # on the car and we called the police and they picked this CREW up the next block over pulling the same scam!

if you're totally worried about turning off elderly familys phones, put webcams thruout their house and keep an eye on them! Cheaper then them being taken for their life savings, and even if your across the country you can sleep nights not worrying. You just have a live feed to your computer. and, I wonder how those life alert type things really work, it looks like a good deal, you wear a button and for any emergency you push a button: police, medical, fire.

I know it sounds a little overboard, but these are hard times, and there are a lot of people out there working hard to take away your hard earned money! sharet

Contact the FBI immediately.

Since I commented on this, I saw on our local news featured an elderly couple that was out $20,000. The woman believed her youngest grandson was being held captive in Mexico, and so she wired money to help get him back to the US. Once other family members got involved, they confirmed the grandson was OK and not in Mexico, but by then the money was gone.

Tips they said- if the money goes to someone in the US, you have a chance to get the money back, but if it goes outside of the US, it's gone. Apparently, this is one of the hottest scams, people pretending to be a family member, often from collecting information from Facebook or other public sources. Yet another reason to shield outsiders from seeing your profile and limit what you say on the internet about yourself!!!

My mom changed the number for her mom- grandma is a sucker for anyone asking for money, and even charities were passing her # around. While my mom was visiting, Gma got several (legitimate) charity phone calls, and this bugged my mother so much that she decided to nip it in the bud! So, with the phone # changed, only family members knew the new number, and it was only given to legitimate sources, such as her doctor when necessary. It totally cut down on the solicitations for money taking advantage of an elderly woman who couldn't say no, ever.

This sounds like a job for Interpol to me. Here's one source:
http://www.interpol.int/public/mail/mail3.asp?id=info.
or fax: Fax: +33 (0)4 72 44 71 63

Here's another source for reporting crimes like this:
http://www.fraudaid.com/solution_cen...and%20intl.htm

Thank-you, thank-you, thank-you

Disgusting lowlife! So sorry that happened to her. What goes round comes round...hope they catch the person.

I totally agree.

They should work like everyone else. Hate that has happened.

They are finding seniors for thier dirty work.