New phone scam

[RoughCollie]

My mom got a call from the American Embassy in Mexico City. It was a scam.

 

The person told her that DS1 was under arrest in Mexico. After explaining the situation, they let her talk to Andy, who told her his sad story. She was told to send thousands of dollars to bail him out.

 

She called the embassy to see if it was a scam. It was, and they said it has been going on a lot. Then she called DH to see if DS1 is here.

 

What she did not do was use common sense -- if DS1 had gone to Mexico or anywhere, I would have told her. I always have.

 

My mom spent 1.5 hours on the phone this morning between that very long call and talking to the embassy people.

 

I could not believe she actually thought she was talking to DS1 and his lawyer! That is not like my mom at all. I would have guessed she would have instantly realized it was a scam. I mean, obviously she thought something was fishy -- but she wasn't going to take any chances ... except that she didn't tell DH and I until after she'd checked with the embassy.

 

So warn the grandparents and aunts and uncles, especially if you have a teenager who can just pick up and leave for Mexico on his own!

 

What troubles me is that they knew DS1's name and that my Mom is his grandmother. We live in different areas of the country and have different last names. Mom doesn't have facebook or belong to any social networking sites, and DS1 doesn't have Mom's name on any of the sites he participates in.

Edited September 12, 2012 by RoughCollie

[Twigs]

… What troubles me is that they knew DS1's name and that my Mom is his grandmother. We live in different areas of the country and have different last names. Mom doesn't have facebook or belong to any social networking sites, and DS1 doesn't have Mom's name on any of the sites he participates in.

 

 

:eek: :scared: :ohmy:

 

Thanks for the warning.

[TranquilMind]

My mom got a call from the American Embassy in Mexico City. It was a scam.

 

The person told her that DS1 was under arrest in Mexico. After explaining the situation, they let her talk to Andy, who told her his sad story. She was told to send thousands of dollars to bail him out.

 

 

I could not believe she actually thought she was talking to DS1 and his lawyer! That is not like my mom at all. I would have guessed she would have instantly realized it was a scam. .......

 

 

 

What troubles me is that they knew DS1's name and that my Mom is his grandmother. We live in different areas of the country and have different last names. Mom doesn't have facebook or belong to any social networking sites, and DS1 doesn't have Mom's name on any of the sites he participates in.

 

How old is your Mom? Yes, this is very troubling, that the scammers had all this information when your Mom doesn't participate online. However, there are sites like spokeo and others that link people together and put a lot of info out there. Plus, if you are willing to pay $15, you can do a background check on almost anyone.

 

They do hound the elderly, as they are more trusting in general. I'm hoping she is over 70 here. How was it that she didn't recognize his voice? Or have they just not talked in awhile.

[InterestingCase]

This happened to my husband's grandmother a few years ago. She went so far as to withdraw and try to wire the money at two different places. Both places cautioned her and said they would not send the money until she called my husband's home number to verify.

 

She called me and did not sound right, so I gave her my husband's cell phone number. She said, she could only speak to him. She was so relieved when she spoke with him.

 

The con artists had pretended to be my husband and asked that she please not tell anyone because he was in Ireland and had gotten into some trouble. She was recently widowed and the caller knew enough to mention a country where my husband often traveled, so it was a possibility in her mind that the call was legitimate.

 

We are so thankful to the people who cautioned her to check with us. She was ready to wire thousands of dollars.

[In The Great White North]

We got a warning from the Parent's Club from ds's college that someone had tried it on one of their grandmothers. In her case, she could tell the kid they put on the phone didn't sound like her grandson.

 

They had both names in that case too.

[AK_Mom4]

Wow! Talk about a targeted scam! Definitely out there tryiong to trip up seniors!

 

The only ones we get here are the "Microsoft Security" guys who try to get you to run a program or allow remote access because "your computer is infected". These guys are actually the only ones who pronoun my last name right..... My favorite response is to say "Wow! that sounds really important! Just a sec...." and then put down the phone and leave them hanging around listening to music on my stereo until they finally hang up and go away. Runs up their phone bill and cuts down (slightly) on the number of scam calls they can make that hour.

[Sun]

A lot of times they don't actually know who the grandchild is. It's a common tactic to use on elderly people. It's very easy for someone to say, "I have you grandson here. He's been arrested in Mexico..." and the grandparent will all too often fill in the rest by saying, "You mean Andy?" The elderly person might say, "Which grandchild?" in which case they'll either guess at a name or hang up.

[DawnM]

This happened to my Uncle. He almost sent money! They told him his Granddaughter was arrested and they needed XXX amount. They called him by name, named his granddaughter, etc....