Typically, I leave work at 3.
Today, I left work at 2, and it took me about an hour to get home. I come in the door, set my stuff down and hear my mom talking on the phone to someone- not unusual. She is 66, has pancreatic cancer and lots of doctors appointments. There aren’t many days I come home and she’s not on the phone.
Suddenly, I hear mention of routing and account numbers, and it piqued my interest. I see that she has some information written down next to her: Publishers Clearing House. $12 million.
As soon as they heard my voice ask who she’s talking to, they asked her if she was alone, and obvs she said no. They then tell her that she needs to get away from me to continue the transaction. I let her know that their only goal is to drain her bank account.
She told me that they tried to tell her that no one could know about the transfer until it was complete.. I responded with the thought that PCH probably doesn’t do direct deposit by phone. She searched* the number and found out it was a robo-call.
I’m glad I came home early today, and that I have trouble minding my own business.
Comments
Googled? You can say she googled….
Holy crap! That was close.
I used to work for a bank and it was always so infuriating to see people fall victim to these scams. Obviously the anger wasn’t towards them but it was towards the scammers. Just such low pieces of shit.
My grandma fell for that same exact scam. They got a little money out of her but not much. She fell for others but my mom caught them. Once my grandma’s hair dresser caught her getting scammed just from conversation they were having. Old people still answer the phone no matter who is calling. They get lonely if they live by themselves like my grandma did. Hell, my grandma would write letters to people that sent her junk mail asking them to stop.
You didn’t just come home early, you stepped in right on time. That wasn’t you being nosy. That was love in action. You protected her in a moment she really needed it.
Protecting old people from scams is so damn hard. Good that you were there to catch this one.
These scammers are disgusting scum. I caught my dad (dementia) almost giving his bank account info to one of them! I quick called the bank and had his account locked just in case he did when I couldn’t hear him. Its frustrating. I fear it will happen one day and he will be wiped out
Thank goodness you came home when you did! Keep causing good trouble!
Lucky you caught that scam call. Your mom’s vulnerable situation with cancer made her a perfect target. Good job protecting her. Hope she didn’t get too shaken up.
I’m part of a group that just finished helping one of our founding members find a place to live after she fell for this scam. They replaced her phone so they could control her communications. As she progressed into dementia, they took her savings, her retirement, her monthly SS, and they have people on the US side who helped them sell her house out from under her. The US person threw some T-shirts into a bag, walked her out of her house, and dropped her and her dog off with said bag at a sketchy room for rent in a tough part of town where she doesn’t speak the language. She remembered a friend’s phone number in a flash of clarity and asked for someone to come get her dog because they made her keep it outside in 110-degree heat. We got the dog before we found her, but eventually found her lost and wandering a strip mall 4 miles away from the sketchy rental place, not knowing how to get back there. They had her convinced that they were giving her the money and she was buying scratcher tickets for them (a.k.a. gift cards) and that she was going to move to New York to live with ‘him’ any day now, they just needed a winning scratcher ticket.
OP, I highly recommend taking your mother to her bank, explaining that she almost fell for a scam, checking to see if there were any recent wire transfers, and moving her accounts to different account numbers. You also might want to see if they can add extra security such as having a second person sign off on large transfers or freezing her accounts from certain actions or something like that. Older people get embarrassed that they fell for a scam and they will keep it a secret, even if it’s already happened.
Look into having only phone numbers (telephone handsets or mobile ojone handset)that are greenlisted to allow to go through. Anything else hits voicemail