I hope there's a special place in hell for those who swindle the elderly.

[Coventina]

My grandmother is 96.

I went over to her house to change her bandages, as she's lost her eyesight and can't do it for herself.

Anyway, she was all excited about a call she got a few hours earlier, in an attempt to scam her.

A guy called and said, "Hi Grandma, this is your oldest grandson!"

After a bit of back and forth, (as she was confused at first) she said,"Kevin?"
(Who is actually my husband, so not her biological grandson)

He said, "Yeah!" and proceeded to spin a tale of how he was out of town (by sheer coincidence, my husband is currently out of town, but not in the location this other guy gave) and got arrested and needed bail money to escape from a corrupt, small-town sheriff out to railroad him for a crime he didn't commit.

Now, my Grandmother might be 96, blind, and hard of hearing, but she's still sharp as a tack, and knows my husband's voice. She also knew that there was no way my husband would ever call her asking for money. She knew he would call me or his folks, not her.

She let him go on for a while, and finally said, "This sounds like a scam!"

He promptly hung up.

She's excitedly waiting for the next attempt to scam her, she thought it was fun!

I'm a little less amused, though.

I guess I'm worried about people who might be more vulnerable.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. A lot of elderly people have been taken in by this scam.

This is how the grandparent scam typically plays out: You get a call from someone pretending to be your grandchild. The person explains that he is in trouble, with a story that goes something like this: “There’s been an accident and I’m______ (in jail, in the hospital, stuck in a foreign country), and I need your help.” The caller adds enough details about how, what or where the emergency happened to make the story seem plausible. And the distraught caller, you think to yourself, does sort of sound like your grandson or granddaughter.

Often the caller tells you that a third person, such as a lawyer, doctor or police officer, will “explain everything to you” if you call him or her. “This makes it seem more real when you call and talk to the authority,” says attorney Kati Daffan, assistant director of the division of marketing practices at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Then the caller asks you to send or wire money immediately, with the kicker, “Please, don’t tell Mom and Dad!”

This financial ruse has been making the rounds in various incarnations for years. In 2017 nearly one in five people reported losing money in an impostor scheme like the grandparent scam, amounting to a loss of $328 million, according to the FTC. And those ages 70 and older have suffered the highest average losses...

Sometimes it’s random, but often it’s not. “They can buy lead lists of people who’ve been scammed before, people who are older or people they can get lots of personal information about,” Daffan says. Sometimes the information is gleaned from social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, or by hacking into your email account (your contact list may include the names of relatives).

https://www.aarp.org/money/scams-fraud/info-2018/grandparent-scam-scenarios.html

[Coventina]

4. Horrific!! I'm sure they knew they were calling an elderly person.

She doesn't have a computer, or email or anything, though.

[Brainfodder]

2. Remind your aged family of this a lot!

From computer issue scams to slick your social security has a problem scams.

I wish steamroller quality death feet first to all those scaming assholes!

We get multiple calls everyday now for years?

I never answer the phone anymore with caller ID, did away with landline more than a decade back.

[Control-Z]

3. Yay for your grandmother!

And yay to you for helping care for her!

I agree with your worries about older folks getting scammed.

[Demovictory9]

5. Thats an ongoing scam. Contact old people , tell them you are their

Grandchild in jail.

[Coventina]

6. I guess I just can't fathom the mindset of someone who would do this.

I can understand stealing when desperate, like shoplifting a loaf of bread or something along those lines.

But to exploit an elderly person's love for a grandchild is just....I don't know....a special kind of heartlessness and cruelty.

What turns people into such monsters?

[Brainfodder]

11. greed and lack of realistic opportunities for the glamourous life they see & covet?

[kimbutgar]

7. My mother in law got the same scam, she played along and asked him his name he gave a bogus name

None of her grandchildren would call her like that asking for money, they ask their mothers to ask Grandma first.

[leftstreet]

8. I'd agree to do it, but make them send me a pizza first

DURec
Thanks for posting this

[JI7]

9. it's disgusting, how can people not feel any guilt over such things

[Maru Kitteh]

10. well

Deficient persons are deficient.

[mia]

12. I received the same scam.

It sounded like one of my older grandsons. He described how he was involved in a minor traffic accident and went on and on about why he needed money to pay the other driver for a watch that fell off his arm and was run over by another car. I was fascinated and a little concerned as the story unfolded. He even had me speak to a police officer. I told the police officer that this sounded like extortion He said "No Mam, it's real. When I asked him how much the other driver wanted for the watch, he said $40,000. At this point I started laughing and he hung up on me.

I can see how elderly people are taken in by this scam and other scams too. I receive many calls a day from scammers on my land line. When my preteen grandchildren come over after school they enjoy answering my phone to see if it's a "robocall scam" or a "real person scam".

Perhaps some elderly people are just so glad that the phone rings and that they get to talk to someone.
My mother was the victim of many scams involving "charitable contributions".

[NCLefty]

13. Trump stole money from his fraudulent "charity" to spend on his own family.

Was that money supposed to be used for vets, kids, homeless? Something that played on donor emotions, I'm sure.

Special place in hell there too, I hope.