Uber Driver shot by an 81 year old man who thought she was part of a scam

My mother has received several scam attempts in recent years. One time it was a teenager claiming to be my son. Several others have been claiming to be police and that they had a relative in custody needing bail money and they would accept her credit card. She’s still pretty sharp and didn’t buy it, but the level of personal information they have make it easy to sound credible to the elderly.

These scams are a big problem and it is most likely that more go unreported than to get reported. But even when reported, nothing happens to the perps. The money is long gone by then and the criminals are out of jurisdiction.

 

Side note .. the scammers voice is recorded on body cam. He called while the cops where there and they answered the phone.

 

Yeah, I mentioned on another thread that I had a call from someone who would only identify himself as "your oldest grandson." Given that he sounded at least 40 and my old grandson was about to turn 3 ...

But I did get a call once that my power was about to be turned off for not paying my bill. I can't remember exactly, but the number they gave me to call made me think it could be JEA. I called and they actually had me going for a second. Then he said I needed to pay my bill through PayPal, because the regular system was down due to covid.

 

This is the absolute truth. As children (no matter how old we are) I feel we need to be responsible and actively and constantly engaged with our parents. My 86 year old mother lives by herself (though my sister is 1 block away). We have made her understand to never respond to unsolicited email, texts or phone calls. Any and all requests for money or personal information should be forwarded to me or one of my siblings. Never click links embedded in email either.

She is not a doddering idiot either, still very sharp for 86. However, she was born in the 1930's where women did not learn a lot of finances, she is not computer savvy and is largely naïve to many things. So we look after her. I remote log into her computer to make sure it is as virus and malware free as I can. I set up a camera system around the house that I have the login for so I can see who comes and goes and if someone is targeting/bothering her. My brother (an attorney) has much of her meager finances (55 years as an RN and dad spent 46 years at the post office as a mail sorter) protected as we can without completely cutting off her independence. Alex is in many rooms to keep her company with music, but also be there in case of an emergency.

It is a lot of work for all 3 of us and it is not like we are perfect and could not eventually fall prey to scams either, but we are more aware and tech savvy. As @AgingGator pointed out, these scammers are merciless and becoming more and more sophisticated and we feel like we owe her some effort now that she is no longer in the position to really take protect herself from things she cannot comprehend.

 

Scammers have these old folks going wild.



74-year-old woman who allegedly robbed Ohio credit union may have been scam victim, family says

A 74-year-old woman who allegedly attempted to rob an Ohio credit union may have been the victim of an online scam, according to her family.

Ann Mayers entered AurGroup Credit Union on April 19 and "demanded money while displaying a handgun," the Fairfield Township Police Department said in a news release. Images released by police show Mayers in the bank wearing a dark gray sweater and light gray sweatpants, a patterned face mask and glasses.

Mayers admitted to the crime, the police department said. While she had no known criminal history, Fairfield Township police Sgt. Brandon McCroskey told CBS News affiliate WKRC that she had recently been scammed out of thousands of dollars in an online scam and owed money to family and friends. McCroskey did not disclose the nature of the scam. McCrosky later told CBS News that Mayers' sister "suspects" that Mayers was being scammed online, but said police have "not confirmed that."

Mayers has been charged with aggravated robbery with a firearm and tampering with evidence. The first charge is a first-degree felony, according to the police department. She was booked into the Butler County Jail shortly after 7 p.m. local time on April 19, according to online records.

 

My then 80 year old father was never scammed but he would click on ever scam banner ad. Once a week we would wipe his computer and start over. My sister was in complete control of his finances and we moved him into an assisted living facility for his final years.

 

The action flick "Beekeeper" with Jason Stratham, which isnt terrible, is about a dude who's grandmother figure is scammed out of all her and her charity's money and kills herself so Jason goes and exacts revenge on 50+ people involved in the scam in as many ways as you can think of to creatively kill a bad guy. Solid for mindless fun.

 

How sad. Her best chance of making the money back is selling her story rights to the Coen brothers

 

Enjoyed that movie immensely. Josh Hutcherson from Future Man was really hateable. Good acting

 

Crazy. The article says she was scammed, but doesn’t suggest the scam was related to the bank robbery attempt. She apparently thought of that all by herself!

I actually have more sympathy for the crazy old man in the OP, who at least thought he was confronting his scammer. This woman may as well have lost all her money gambling or sending it all to Trump. The scam isn’t relevant to her crime. At the end of the day, her reasons for committing…[checks notes]… armed robbery aren’t any more valid than any other violent criminal.

 

I've talked to my family about a code we could use; so, when the inevitable scam comes through ( i.e. "We have your son and won't release him unless you send us $10,000 in bitcoin").

One thought is have a number that everyone in the family knows.
Get a call and say "Number +5"
If they hem and haw or threaten you they don't have the goods.
Obviously, if you hear what you believe to be your son's voice and he replies with the right number you've got a problem. With AI this type of scam will become more prevalent and - to our eyes and ears - much more real.

Any other thoughts on how to help protect folks from these scams?

 

That movie was horrible.

 

True, but entertaining.

 

I said it wasnt terrible but actually most people actually liked it.




Horrible was this POS. Saw this when it came out and boy did it suck.

 

I love RT.

 

I like Stratham, but I thought it was terrible, like turn it off half way thru type of bad.

 

My business partner has a 96 YO FIL who is sharp as nails.

Scammer calls his cell phone and says “your 25 YO grandson has been arrested. You need to Venmo us $20,000 to release him”.

And the FIL says “that kid has always been a problem and a night in jail would do him good. His parents can get him tomorrow” and hung up on the scammer.

Not to make light of this thread, which is terrible.

 

SETA - Security Education, Training and Awareness. I'm not sure how to apply this to older folks, but anyone that touches a PC for work should have to complete training courses to maintain access which would/should educate people on how to spot scams, including phone scams. Much how parents give the birds and the bees talk, the now-grown sons and daughters should have the scam talk with their elder parents. It's great that you are talking to your family about it.

Embed it into AARP commercials and snail mail? Have AI generate a message from Paul Harvey on how to spot and react to scams? Excerpts in the Cracker Barrel menu?

 

You are correct most of the time you don't need a gun. What are you going to do to protect your family the time you do need a gun? If you choose to not have one to protect your family I am fine with that. Just don't think you know if I should have one or not. Where I live it would take a police officer at least 30 minutes to get to my home in most cases and longer sometimes. They don't stop crimes where I live they just write a report about it after it has happened.

 

I am not 100% anti gun, especially in remote areas. The problem is in my mind most people are probably not really fit to have a gun. When you have a gun, it immediately becomes the first line of defense, and sometimes can needlessly escalate the situation.