Anyway, one more scam to watch out for.

[old fed]

Originally Posted by Three Wolves In Snow

If you want people to see the latest scams, and someone ruining the scammers' day, direct them to Jim Browning on YouTube.

He doesn't just toy with them like many others, he gets into their system, sometimes gets names of victims and contacts them, but has been able to contact victims in the middle of being scammed and saves them from financial ruin. He has also been able to shut down their operations, and get some of them arrested.

But again, most importantly, he details all the latest scams. For those who are naive and/or too trusting, his channel will open their eyes and keep them from becoming a victim.

Jim is the hero we need

[Travelassie]

Originally Posted by Lodestar

I had fun with a kid one time who tried to pull the "Hello Grandma" scam on me. I have no grandchildren; my children aren't married and are of northern European ancestry.

The young man fast-talking me spoke Ebonics and had the classic African intonation. So I took a guess it probably wasn't a grandchild. Also I was familiar with the scam.

At least I used up some of the time he might have spent scamming someone else.

Thanks, OP, for publishing this warning. We all need a reminder sometimes. Especially those of us who remember when you could take most people at their word.

I always hope there's an especially miserable consequence in store for people who take advantage of Seniors.

That sounds like your long-lost great uncle, a Nigerian prince. They used to send out letters with scam offers before we all got so proficient using our phones for everything under the sun

[camaro69]

As a retired banker I claim BS.

There is no way anyone in the bank would give an 80 year old woman a total of 54k in cash without calling in the Bank Security Dept to talk with her. Plus the bank would need to plan and order the extra cash which in most cases would need to be approved.

Again, I claim BS.

[mrkool]

Originally Posted by Flamingo13

The scam has gone on for years and years - and been posted about MANY times. I would think most folks know this by now.

Damn... lighten up. There can always be new people reading who can be enlightened (and maybe avert problems) by this information. Especially, trusting, older people who may not be cynical or cognizant enough to question these scams. Or they might be easily intimidated by aggressive scammers. A retirement forum like this is an appropriate place for this info to be disseminated occasionally.

[Yippeekayay]

The main scammers are the kids. They will scam me of my properties and excess money when I die. Easily a million dollar scam.

[DeepImpact]

What, excess money? I'm going to die with no money and all my properties mortgaged to the hilt.

[galaxyhi]

My cell phone rang 19 today between 7:30am and 5 pm.

Two left legit messages, and 2 were programmed into my phone as family/friends I know, so I answered those.

The rest? Scams.

My personal opinion is that with the ability of a smart phone to have a "programmed phone book", it cuts my chances of getting scammed.

For seniors NOT in the know and with a landline ONLY:
A smart phone can be programmed with:
Phone number with area code
Work, home phone etc.
Persons/businesses name
Address (clicking will take you to map for directions)
Email
Other pertinent info you decide to input
More options such as photos/pics

When the phone rings, depending on how I've inputted the info, I see: a pic of the person/family; the name attached to the caller number; and the phone number under it

Theres NO mistaking who is calling when it rings for me.

IF it's reported as, or known to be, or suspected to be a SCAM call, my Smart phone STATES POTENTIAL SCAM that under the number when it rings.

Landlines, unless you have a programmable phone of some type, DONT carry that information.

*Note, let's say I'm expecting a call back, or many call backs from a number that way be a regular caller (suchas an attorney or doctor office), I make it a contact and program the info into my phone book.

For those who have smart phones, please disregard this message, this is for those afraid of getting a smart phone.

Best

[heavymind]

Originally Posted by galaxyhi

When the phone rings, depending on how I've inputted the info, I see: a pic of the person/family; the name attached to the caller number; and the phone number under it

Theres NO mistaking who is calling when it rings for me.

IF it's reported as, or known to be, or suspected to be a SCAM call, my Smart phone STATES POTENTIAL SCAM that under the number when it rings.

There can be when phone numbers are spoofed by hackers. I got a call from my bank, I recognized it as the main branch number, and the caller knew my name and the last four numbers of my cc, stating they had detected fraud. Turned out to be a scammer, I hung up.

Even if you have a number saved as a contact, say I'd had this saved as "Bank", it would have shown up as "Bank" even though it wasn't. So don't have full faith in the technology because it's already being compromised.

Most of my junk calls show up at "Potential Spam", and 100% of the time they are indeed spam, based on the voicemail recordings they leave. But some get through as legitimate-looking numbers.

[ocnjgirl]

Originally Posted by considerforamoment

Basic common sense.

Some older people get scared, and common sense goes out the window. We once got a frantic call from my bf's mother in another state, telling us she got an e-mail from Social Security telling her that she would no longer be getting a SS check (I can't recall the bogus reason it used). She's not the most sophisticated person, and she was truly terrified as it was her only income. It took us over 30 minutes with to convince her not to click the link in the e-mail. We even gave her the real number for SS. But it was touch and go for awhile. If we hadn't been available she probably would have clicked it. Even as it was, when she hung up she still wasn't completely convinced and we were afraid she'd do it anyway.



I used to bug my (now deceased) mother to get a computer or smart phone, cause I know she would have liked shopping on it and looking up various health issues. But she never would, saying she was a secretary for many decades and she was never typing on any keyboard again, lol.



As years went by and the scams became so much more prevalent, I was happy she never got one. I know I would never have been able to educate her thoroughly without making her scared to ever go on it.

[ocnjgirl]

Originally Posted by heavymind

There can be when phone numbers are spoofed by hackers. I got a call from my bank, I recognized it as the main branch number, and the caller knew my name and the last four numbers of my cc, stating they had detected fraud. Turned out to be a scammer, I hung up.

Even if you have a number saved as a contact, say I'd had this saved as "Bank", it would have shown up as "Bank" even though it wasn't. So don't have full faith in the technology because it's already being compromised.

Most of my junk calls show up at "Potential Spam", and 100% of the time they are indeed spam, based on the voicemail recordings they leave. But some get through as legitimate-looking numbers.

I've actually gotten calls from myself! Phone rings and it's my name there.



I fell for a scam maybe 6 months ago, because to this day I don't know how they knew. I used a new credit card for the first time in person at Walmart. 10 seconds afterward I got a text saying the card was declined. Because it was brand new, I figured it was legit (cause how did they know???) and I had clicked through half the questions before it became clear it was a scam (the charge had actually been processed, not declined). I had to freeze my credit, sign up for credit monitoring, etc. And I am normally aware of these scams (for instance I know UPS is not going to start an e-mail about my package with "Hi!").