Some P.O.S. tried to scam my elderly grandmother today...

[Reason]

Mods please let this sit in general for a few mins to get some responses before moving to off topic

Just got filled in on this from my parents after getting out of class,

A man called my grandmother this morning using MY NAME acting like he was in a panic, he stated that he was in the hospital in Mexico & that he needed money ASAP. He instructed her to call a cab & have the cab take her to the western union that is a few blocks away to wire money. Thankfully she told the guy to hold on while she went across the street to get her friend who keeps an eye on her (family friend) to ask for assistance since she didn't know what to do.

She is starting to become somewhat senile & may be developing Alzheimer's. We are very lucky that she didn't do anything she was told to do.

Elements that make this a bit freaky,

1. The guy was using my name
2. The guy seemed to know she can't drive
3. The guy seemed to know she was close to the western union

I just got home but here is the list of things I am thinking of doing, please give me your thoughts & suggestions!

1. Call the phone company with the time of the call & try to see if they can provide any caller ID info (she does not have caller ID at the moment)

2. Call the PD & ask for a police report to be taken to document the incident in case this happens again or other fraud takes place in the future.

3. Sign her up for caller ID & buy a caller ID device for her phone that stores the numbers.

4. Cancel all her debit/credit cards & have new ones sent out.

5. Review with her procedure for the future if she gets any other calls.

6. Subscribe her to a credit monitoring service (any suggestions?)

Anyone have thoughts on this incident or the steps to take now?

[Koz]

All good ideas, you can place a watch through the three credit bureaus as well.

[MelissaWV]

Just to shed some light on things to freak you out less (or more depending on how you look at it?):

1. The guy was using my name
2. The guy seemed to know she can't drive
3. The guy seemed to know she was close to the western union


Your name, as a relative, is easily obtained. When you use an internet search site you can get information on just about anyone. If your grandmother was the target, they would look at your age as an indicator that she might easily believe you were in trouble.

Knowing her age, and knowing that many elderly ladies might be extremely cautious and not drive themselves, they asked her to call a cab. Why? Well what if she called someone to drive her? They might show her how stupid it is to go rushing out to send money. They might even suggest you be called to verify all of this. No, she should go in a cab.

Being near a Western Union is no big deal. Many grocery stores and convenience stores offer Western Union transfers. Finding the closest one (again, they would be able to find her address) would not be difficult.

[smtwngrl]

I've actually read about this type of scam. It's one of the newer ways people are being scammed.

That's probably not any comfort, but it means it's not an isolated incident.