Warning...to folks who's mental capacity may not be quite what it used to be...

Some background...my mom was in an accident several years ago & sustained a head injury that has impaired her memory and her decision making capabilities. So, my brother lives with her to help out & make sure all is well. Last Thursday, they got a call from a guy who lied and said he was my son, in Spain, got in accident and needs money wired asap. Long story short, she's out $7000.00....so, if anybody has a suggestion on how she can get her money back, please let me know.

Call the police and report it!

If the money was wired, its gone. :( She can contact the police, but the people that end up with the money are quick and slick... her chances of recovery are slim to none. Sorry to not have more hope for you, however, I work in the banking industry and have seen this situation before.

If it was just wired yesterday or today, they can ask the bank to do a retrival, that it was sent based on fraudulent terms... if it is still wherever it ended up, she may get it back.

Did...not much they can do since my mom gave Western Union cash and it was out of the country. We're hoping the guy had to show ID to get the money from Western Union, but he was a pretty smart guy, probably had fake ID.

That's an aweful shame. Those kind of people will rot in @$&@. Atleast you can find relief in that.

Whats really sad is how many of those people are out there... and prey on the elderly. We have had to tell people to change their numbers because people will harass them to the point of breaking.

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. :( :(

Contact the police and change the number. Once the money is sent, it's gone. These people know just what to say and they seem to have a lot of information that they can answer any question asked of them. It's really scary!

So SORRY this happened to your Mother. These people that do this prey not only on the elderly they will try it with anyone they can. The sad thing is that they may try it again since she fell for it once they may figure they can get more money from her again so be careful.

About a month ago I had a phone call..blocked number..answered anyway...male voice said...Hi Grandma...well red flag...I DO have grandsons BUT they are 13-8 & 5 and the voice certainly was older. I said who is this....he says Michael...another red flag as I don't have a Michael grandson....I said Hello...Hello..he says bad connection Hello Hello and the phone went dead. I feel like it was one of those scams...could of been wrong number but if that is the case why didn't he say sorry wrong number?

You just have to be so careful now days and that is sad.

This happened to a friend at church...except he knew everything about the family, even recent death of dog and nicknames of other members. Police said that are rooms of people watching Facebook just looking to run this same scam. They prey on out of town Grandparents and aunts/uncles. Friend said it never entered her mind to call her daughter's house and check on gs until the jerk called back the next day for more money. Guess who answered the phone...the gs who was supposedly in bad accident several states away. Creeps!!

You should have some private, and I mean PRIVATE codes that your family will respond to. For instance, our kids were told to never, at any time, accept rides from anyone who did not know the name of our animals..Zabo and Warlock, the cats, and an even more private code, which changed after being used just once.