Hey Everyone! I just wanted to alert you all to a scam that is happening that targets older people. It’s my hope by sharing this (long) story that you retell it to anyone you know that may fit the demographic. I have personal knowledge of this happening two times in the past week. It goes like this: Let’s call the victim “Bart” (a widower in his 80s…fit and self-reliant) to make it easier to tell. Bart receives a phone call in the morning from someone (the scammer) who says he is his adult son. The scammer says “Dad, I am in the hospital and have a broken nose and broken arm from a car accident. I have been arrested for DWI and I injured another driver. This is my only phone call, but here is the number for my attorney who will call you and give you instructions on how to make bail. Dad, please don’t tell anyone about this….no one can find out about it.”
Bart is in a panic, he calls the number his “son” gave him. A man picks up and identifies himself as an attorney. Bart asks if he is representing his son, and the man says yes. The man says that we have to act fast or we won’t be able to get him out of jail on bail until next week. Bart is told that bail has been set at $50,000 and he needs $5000 in cash immediately. The attorney instructs Bart to go to the bank and get it and then call him back. Bart, with his paternal instincts in overdrive, rushes to the bank and withdraws $5000 in cash. He calls the “attorney” back and tells him he has the money. The attorney says that the case is being handled all the way up in Passaic County, so the fastest way to get the money to him is to go to a local PNC bank and deposit in the account of ….let’s say, John Doe…in account # 123456.
Bart rushes to PNC bank where the Teller promptly refuses him because by law you cannot deposit money into another party’s account (and that they don’t have that account on record). Bart calls the “attorney” and tells him the bad news. The attorney tells him to try Wells Fargo (knowing full well he will be refused again but this is all a part of the scam). Bart drives to the bank and receives the same response. Bart is now in a panic, so the “attorney” tells him that the only thing he can think of is for Bart to go to Hamilton and buy $5000 worth of “bitcoin” and that he will give him instructions once he gets that done.
Well Bart has no idea what bitcoin is and breaks down and calls his grandson and asks for help. Bart tells his grandson to please tell no one “but I am trying to help your father, and I need to buy bitcoin.” Luckily, the grandson knows this scam well because it happened to a grandfather of his friend. He tells Bart that it’s a scam and to go home and he will meet him there. Bart, if you talk with him and see him, is a sharp man for his age. But he is human, and his emotions overcame his common sense…and this is what makes these scammers awful human beings. For 3 hours Bart was driving around thinking this terrible thing happened to his son, and is doing his best to try and help him while telling no one because his son asked him not to.
The police were called, and a report was taken. The officer told Bart that these scammers are often never caught because they are in another country. This exact scam happened the very next day to one of Bart’s friends who took the same action but was luckily stopped by his grandson (coincidentally) when he reached out for help. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE do not think this couldn’t happen to your elderly sibling, parent, grandparent or neighbor. Bart still swears the voice sounded exactly like his son’s. If this scam was completed, Bart would have been devastated. Please tell this story to whomever you think may need to hear it. Let’s all work to keep our residents safe.
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