Sighs. Another new scam is out there, involving cash, cars and christians. A friend called me

[niyad]

tonight about this new scam. Caller ID showed it from Omaha, NE. Caller calls my friend by name to inform her that she has won 500,000 cash and a car worth 120,000. My friend is assured that these are good christian people, so it could not possibly be a scam (hmm, mcinane sprang to mind!). No information needed, they have my friend's address, and will deliver her prizes on Monday. My friend says she will not be available Monday, or Tuesday. She is informed that, in that case, she will be charged storage fees of 750/day, which she must pay by check.

My friend keeps questioning them (a manager had been called in to overcome her fears), and they get progressively more insistent and nasty. Even demand to know what her religion is!. But I have taught her well. She hangs up on them, and promptly calls the police to file a report.

The calles identified the company simply as "Hewitt", and claimed they had gotten my friend's information from Publishers Clearing House. They both spoke with what sounded like East Indian accents.

I cannot decide if these ridiculous scam artists are getting more desperate, or more stupid. Has anyone else encountered this latest nonsense?

[TheBlackAdder]

1. Hmm, what kind of car? 😂

[niyad]

2. They would not tell her.

[Retrograde]

9. More important, what color?

I'm not just gonna accept any color car - it has to be green! Now, is it mint green, lime green, forest green, kelly green, teal - I'm very choosy. I believe in looking gift horses in the mouth - and then inspecting their hooves!

ETA: I'd ask why they can't just take the "delivery fee" out of the prize money she supposedly won.

[niyad]

13. My friend did ask that, and was told it was against the rules. Rughhhhhhht!

[csziggy]

3. It kind of reminds me of the first scam call I ever got

Back when I was a poor college student, I got a call congratulating me on winning a sewing machine, a really fancy model I would never buy myself. All I had to do was pre-pay shipping. For some reason the shipping was more than a base model sewing machine I might have purchased if I could afford it at the time. The sales person was astounded that I would turn down a free sewing machine, especially such a great model. I had to tell them over and over that I didn't have the amount they wanted for the shipping, plus how is it that a "free" prize would cost me so much?

Even back then I realized that the longer I kept them on the phone, the less time they had to scam someone more gullible. I think they badgered me for over an hour before they gave up.

I didn't need their fancy sewing machine - when I mentioned it to Mom, she gave me my grandmother's Pritzlaff one with an electric motor strapped on the back and the manual for the hand crank version. I still have that machine today - it's over a hundred years old and still works great.

[niyad]

4. Oh, wow, that is so very cool! My repair artist would be so jealous if I told him about your

treasure.

On the extremely rare occasions on which I have taken such calls, my first question is, "how much will it cost me?" My second is,"how could I have won a contest that I did not enter?" They tend to get sooooo annoyed.

[csziggy]

6. Yeah, like th old Irish sweepstake scam

How could I win a sweepstake I never entered?

Our first indication that our Dad's faculties were fading was when he fell for that about ten years before he died. He actually bragged about the big check he was supposed to get. My older sister had to break it to him he wasn't getting a check plus she had to drag him down to the bank to change his accounts so he wouldn't get money stolen from him. Fortunately they hadn't taken any from him yet so he came out good, just highly embarrassed.

[TlalocW]

5. The depressing thing is if it didn't work enough times to be worth it

They wouldn't be doing it so people are falling for it.

I look forward to getting that call. My scam calls have all been from "Card Services" wanting to tell me about how my credit card companies want to give me a 0% APR. I still enjoy messing with them (or just insulting their mothers), but some variety would be nice.

TlalocW

[niyad]

8. I know. It is sad that they find so many vulnerable people. The only scam calls that I am

getting are urgent recall notices for my Honda, from a different number each time. I don't own a Honda.

[JI7]

7. I think there might be more of this happening because of Coronavirus .

[sakabatou]

10. These days, if I get a number that I don't recognize

I don't pick it up. I google the number and see what comes up. If it's a scam or something, I block the number.

[Sherman A1]

18. Same here

Just don’t pick up an unrecognized number.

[vlyons]

11. A job search scam I uncovered recently

I'm looking for a job on various job web sites. I get either a call or an email that someone wants to hire me as a remote shipping package inspector. All I have to do is receive packages, inspect what's inside, and then ship them on to their destination. And they'll put $8,000 in my checking account to get me started. Does that sound too good to be true?

There must be a team of them, because 3 or 4 of them claiming to be different companies gave me the same offer. The one I spoke to on the phone had some sort of very thick accent. Needless to say, all such emails now get immediately deleted.

[Midnight Writer]

12. I got a call from "The Census Bureau" telling me I left my Social Security Number off my form.

What bothered me about that one is that they knew my name and unlisted phone number.

[niyad]

14. Knowing your name is bad enough, but your unlisted number???? Ughhhhh!

[Hekate]

15. When I finally got thru to my local Sheriff regarding an IRS scam call likewise from India...

He said I had acted appropriately in blowing them off, but that locally they simply didn’t have the resources to chase down stuff like this. He advised me to tell my neighbors, so as to warn them.

The sheriff added something, though: scammers use FB as a source of personal information, and like to call grandparents for ransom or bail money for their beloved grandkid. So beware.

[pfitz59]

19. my mother got hit by the "Grandmother scam"

Had my son's name and address. He is a traveler so not totally preposterous. She sent $3000 to Guatemala via Western Union. We sued WU and got all the money back.

[niyad]

22. The first time I got one of those, I asked the guy if he would repeat it so that I could record it.

He hung up. The second time, I asked if he would stay on the line with me until the Marshall (not the police) arrived so that he could confirm. He hung up too. Never got another one.

[SunSeeker]

16. As soon as I heard the words "good Christian people" I would have hung up.

[niyad]

20. My friend is very ill, and was napping when the call came in. Takes her a few minutes to wake

Properly. Me. .upon hearing the christian thing, would have laughed loudly before hanging up.

[Doreen]

17. I like the ones I get telling me that my social security number

has been put on hold until I address whatever issue they want me to address. They ask me for my soc-sec number and I tell them if you are calling about it you should already know it then hang up and call the real soc-sec to report it.

[niyad]

21. Exactly!