Scams

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theel4life

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I have a serious problem with my 75 year old mother falling for scams on line. She continues to send these people gift cards promising her money and rewards. Everyone in the family has told her they are scams and to stop falling for them yet she continues to do so. Last month she sent 2 $500 dollar apple gift cards to some scammer. Don’t know what to do.
 
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OGtruthhurts said:
We were cleaning out my ex wifes grandmother's house abot 10 yrs ago after she passed and came across over $200k in receipts to jimmy swaggart ministries. Some would consider that a scam i guess.
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$200K??? Holy cow. Criminals like Swaggart would be dying in prison if there was any justice in the world.
 
theel4life said:
I have a serious problem with my 75 year old mother falling for scams on line. She continues to send these people gift cards promising her money and rewards. Everyone in the family has told her they are scams and to stop falling for them yet she continues to do so. Last month she sent 2 $500 dollar apple gift cards to some scammer. Don’t know what to do.
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I don't know what to say. Some people were just so kind-hearted and sympathetic their entire lives, that they can't resist just "helping a little bit." Other folks are so terrified of the poverty they have seen others fall into upon aging, that they grasp at any chance regardless how remote. Just yesterday, I saw two old--well probably not much older than me-- women in a convenience store buying lottery tickets.

In a society were poverty and lavish wealth are so widespread and getting further apart, it's easy to believe that there is some trick to wealth and, as such, there may be some small trick to small wealth.
 
theel4life said:
I have a serious problem with my 75 year old mother falling for scams on line. She continues to send these people gift cards promising her money and rewards. Everyone in the family has told her they are scams and to stop falling for them yet she continues to do so. Last month she sent 2 $500 dollar apple gift cards to some scammer. Don’t know what to do.
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I’d report the scam. There are resources/hotlines to report these sorts of crimes against the elderly.


ovc.ojp.gov

National Elder Fraud Hotline

If you or someone you know is a victim of elder fraud, call this hotline at 833–FRAUD–11.
ovc.ojp.gov ovc.ojp.gov
 
EyeballKid said:
I’d report the scam. There are resources/hotlines to report these sorts of crimes against the elderly.


ovc.ojp.gov

National Elder Fraud Hotline

If you or someone you know is a victim of elder fraud, call this hotline at 833–FRAUD–11.
ovc.ojp.gov ovc.ojp.gov
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You can report it but if it's a phone call, you're almost certainly not going to get that money back. Those hotlines do better with US-based fraudsters like car dealerships that take advantage.

To the op, you're going to need to get control of your mother's finances. Getting scammed once or twice is a bit of a rite of passage for a lot of old folks but if it's happened more than that, it's not going to get better.

It can be very difficult and somewhat heartbreaking. If you're lucky, you can work it out where where you're paying all the monthly normal expenses and giving her an allowance and letting her know that it's all her money and if she wants to spend more, just call and ask. If you're unlucky, you go through the courts which is a painful and expensive process not only for an attorney but also for the bond and payments to State appointed guardians. But it's better than letting them get scammed over and over.
 
OGtruthhurts said:
We were cleaning out my ex wifes grandmother's house abot 10 yrs ago after she passed and came across over $200k in receipts to jimmy swaggart ministries. Some would consider that a scam i guess.
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It is a scam, as are all of those types.
 
Scamming is a 10 billion dollar industry.

And no one is going to stop it because of kick backs and payments to look the other way.

And technology combined with the money above all human condition will continue to drive it.

I liked the movie "Beekeeper" and wish that we could truly punish scammers like that.
 
OGtruthhurts said:
I think you and I agree that every religion that offers an afterlife is a scam, but its hard for me to feel any sorrow for anyone who 'buys' into it.
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True. Also, those who make Joel Osteen rich while whinning about government entitlements, taxes, and disparaging people trying to make a better life for their families really grate my last nerve.
 
gtyellowjacket said:
You can report it but if it's a phone call, you're almost certainly not going to get that money back. Those hotlines do better with US-based fraudsters like car dealerships that take advantage.

To the op, you're going to need to get control of your mother's finances. Getting scammed once or twice is a bit of a rite of passage for a lot of old folks but if it's happened more than that, it's not going to get better.

It can be very difficult and somewhat heartbreaking. If you're lucky, you can work it out where where you're paying all the monthly normal expenses and giving her an allowance and letting her know that it's all her money and if she wants to spend more, just call and ask. If you're unlucky, you go through the courts which is a painful and expensive process not only for an attorney but also for the bond and payments to State appointed guardians. But it's better than letting them get scammed over and over.
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In NC you don't have to use a state appointed guardian. It can be anyone as long as they can get bonded. If she has substantial assets probably better to go this route before it's too late.
 
Is it worthwhile to enact a regulation that gift card redemptions require some tracking - ID if in person, valid mailing address, etc.? That may push the scam to a different means of payment, but I'm pretty sure my Nana can't figure out how to pay someone in bitcoin.
 
You need to get a Power of Attorney (POA) and have a heart to heart talk with your mother, along with any siblings. She still has to relinquish some or all financial control.

Guardianship is another option but again she has to be willing, and it is much more difficult to get.

The bottom line is that in either case, if she is not willing to give up control of her purse strings, or take your advice, unfortunately, there is very little you can do unless a doctor will sign off on diminished capacity or mental/dementia issues even if caused naturally by aging process.

Is it dumb and a waste to donate to con men like TV evangelists and Donald J Trump? Sure, but many people do it without being medically off or with diminished capacity.
 
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OGtruthhurts said:
We were cleaning out my ex wifes grandmother's house abot 10 yrs ago after she passed and came across over $200k in receipts to jimmy swaggart ministries. Some would consider that a scam i guess.
Click to expand...
My great grandmother left everything to Jimmy Swaggart when she died decades ago. It was particularly galling to my grandmother because my grandfather (her husband) had given my great grandmother virtually everything she had at that point (after she had abandoned him and his sister as children with their alcoholic and abusive father and married someone else, but fell on hard times after her second husband died). I guess he knew his mom had good reasons to leave. But anyway, it infuriated my grandmother to find out Ma Bert turned around and left what she had to that con man Swaggart.
 
EyeballKid said:
I’d report the scam. There are resources/hotlines to report these sorts of crimes against the elderly.


Click to expand...
EyeballKid said:
I’d report the scam. There are resources/hotlines to report these sorts of crimes against the elderly.


ovc.ojp.gov

National Elder Fraud Hotline

If you or someone you know is a victim of elder fraud, call this hotline at 833–FRAUD–11.
ovc.ojp.gov ovc.ojp.gov
Click to expand...
Waste of time. Been there and done that. No law enforcement or anyone else can do anything unless the actual person being scammed wants something done.
 
My mom handled this very well with her father, though she more or less retired early and spent half time living with him (apart from my stepfather). At that time it was more snail mail scams, but not really much different.

She realized he was going through check books every couple months, so had to take action. She got him to agree to go through all the solicitations together once per month. They'd take the foot high stack and go through them together one by one.

When something really spoke to him, they'd write a check together. She also convinced him to give no more than $15 to $20 for solicitations where they did not know much about the organization asking, and no more than $50 if it was a known organization.

When they went through them together, it became more of a mother/father project than a battle of her convincing him it was a scam. He picked out the ones he felt were compelling, she picked out the ones she liked. She reminded him which ones he'd already given to (which probably cut the pile by 80%). And most months they spent $200 to $300 tops on these requests.

I'm sure they gave to more than a couple scams... but $20 to a scammer is not worth the aggravation to fight it.
 
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