by Neena Strichart
Last week I wrote about a telephone scam perpetrated on a friend of mine. Although her situation was resolved, and she was able to recoup all her money, that is not the case for all who find themselves on the business end of a con man or woman.
Several weeks ago another lady friend of mine was the target of a phone scammer. When my friend, whom I will call Jan, answered the phone, the scenario went something like this:
Jan: Hello.
Scammer: Grandma?
Jan: Who’s this?
Scammer: Your grandson.
Jan: Which one?
(Long pause)
Jan: Pete, is that you?
Scammer: Yes.
Jan: What’s the matter? You don’t sound like yourself.
Scammer: I know, I’m in Mexico, and I got into an accident and broke my nose.
Jan: Oh, no! Are you alright? What are you doing in Mexico?
Scammer: I’m here with a friend, and I’m in trouble. I hit another car, and the person is really hurt. I am in jail, and I need bail money or they won’t let me go to court.
Jan: Did you call your dad?
Scammer: No, I don’t want him to know. Now that I have called you with my one allowed phone call, I can’t call him anyway. Grandma, please. I need you to wire me some money. I need $2,500.
Jan: Well, Pete, I need to call your dad and let him know what’s going on.
Scammer: NO! If the Mexican cops find out you’ve called anyone else they won’t let me go to court and I’ll be stuck in jail forever!
Jan: That doesn’t make sense, and besides, that puts me in a bad position— keeping information from my own son just to protect you.
Scammer: Grandma, please! Don’t call my dad. I promise I will call him as soon as I get out. Just wire me the money!
Well, the conversation went on for another few minutes, and Jan decided to go ahead and wire the money, which turned out to be a very complicated endeavor, including several different transactions at several different locations.
When she finally called me to discuss something totally unrelated, I could hear a quiver in her voice. I was able to pry the above info out of her and then proceeded to give her my opinion! “You’ve been conned.” I had to do a lot of fast talking and convincing, but she finally agreed to call her son. Within a few minutes she called me back and told me that her grandson was not in Mexico, and that she was indeed victimized by a phone scammer.
How did I know she was victimized? I have heard about the “Grandma, it’s me” con job story a dozen times. In fact, years ago a former writer of ours was very upset because his grandmother fell for the very same type of phone swindle. Also, similar in nature, a couple of buddies of mine were involved in a deal like that back more than 10 years ago. One of the men swears the other called him late at night and begged him to wire money to him to help with out-of-town emergency car repairs. It was a scam, but the fellow who sent the money refused to believe that he was taken in by a con man, and that his pal had never called to ask for money. The two had been friends for many years, and still, to this day, do not speak to one another.
I wonder how many folks are taken in by this scheme and how many relationships are ruined by it! not to mention the loss of cold, hard cash.
I am sorry to report that Jan spoke with the police and there is nothing they could do for her, other than to tell her not to answer her phone for a while in case the con man calls back. The officer did tell her that they get these types of reports on a regular basis. Apparently, later in the day, the bad guy did call back and leave a message on her answer machine, still masquerading as the grandson. This time the thief really pulled out all the stops and said he needed a lot more money because the guy hurt in the accident died, of course, and that if he didn’t get thousands of dollars more sent immediately he would surely die in the Mexican prison. It’s a good thing she knew at that point that she had been conned or she might have handed over even more hard-earned cash.
Darling Jan is out $2,500 because she so desperately wanted to help her grandson in his hour of need. Thank goodness my friend is a good-natured soul. Instead of being so upset about losing the money, she is just relieved that her grandson is well and happy— and not in a Mexican jail.
