Scrap Happy

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!!!

Sophie2

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!

Willa

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.

IBQUILTIN

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

M.I.Late

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

tntgranny

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.

Kimkankwilt

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.

mimee4

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.

milikaa1

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.

tutty

Ugh so sad.