Posted on 01/13/2020 6:32:55 AM PST by Red Badger
Imagine you’re retired and your primary source of income is your monthly Social Security check.
Your telephone rings and an automated message says your Social Security number has been “suspended” because of some suspicious activity. You may even be threatened with arrest if you don’t call the telephone number provided in the automated message.
If someone calls saying that your Social Security number and the benefits connected to it may be in jeopardy, it’s understandable that you might panic. You’re told that to “reactivate” your Social Security number, you have to pay a fee or buy gift cards. You have reservations, but fear of being cut off from the money you so desperately need overtakes any reservations you may have.
So you call the number.
What comes next can be devastating.
“My mother is 76 and has early Alzheimer’s,” one reader wrote. “She received a call saying that her Social Security information was compromised and that the only way to rectify the situation was to buy $3,200 in gift cards to Target and GameStop and give the codes to an ‘employee.’ She was told the money would be deposited back into her bank account. Obviously, the majority of people would understand that this is a scam, but she is easily confused and gave away all of the money in her checking account. And once it was gone, there was no way to help her or recover the money.”
This Texas woman’s daughter, who wrote to me, said one store employee warned her mother that she was probably being scammed.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
I can’t be sure but I believe fraud is already a crime as is stealing.
Give them the SS# the wun used that apparently belonged to some other guy.
It’s credible in that this is a current scam being used on the elderly. I have received this call on my home phone and my cell phone.
Did a woman with early Alzheimer’s fall for it? Very likely.
Is WaPO being dramatic? I refuse to pay for a subscription or allow ads so I can’t ready the article. Did it offer a solution or merely blame Trump?
There are all kinds of scams. My older brother was out of work about 10 years ago and had posted his resume on one of those job boards. He had previous experience in working at a print shop and in a high volume print and mail room so when he got an email job offer for doing packaging and mailing from home, he thought it was legit.
It wasn’t and thankfully his daughter, son and I all convinced him before he got scammed.
The scam works like this – they tell you they are some company located outside of the US and need someone to print and mail documents from home as they claim this is a more affordable and desirable method for them.
But they tell you that you have to purchase a specific printer and other supplies. They say they will send you a check for the “estimated cost”, typically several hundred dollars more than what the items cost, after which you are to send them a Western Union wire for the difference. But you have to do this in x number of days, 2-3.
Of course the check they send you is fraudulent but by the time you and your bank finds out, you’ve already wired them the difference and are out the money.
I get at least 2 or 3 such emails a week.
That is exactly what I do as I'm old, retired and bored...
That's why for many years I've advocated executing drug dealers, from street level to kingpin.
I am a licensed real estate broker, and sometimes receive calls from unknown folks referred to me by past clients, from my signs or from other agents for information on my listings. But I tend to get a dozen or more autodialer calls a day So if the number is unidentified I simply do not say anything for 4-5 seconds. The autodialers will hang up and move on; if there is a person there they will usually say hello? or otherwise indicate their presence verbally.
There may well be certain cultures where it is considered OK to lie & steal, but I don’t think it’s a culture we foster in the U.S. My thought is that these people who call us misrepresenting the Soc. Sec. Administration need to be jailed.....right after other appropriate punishment so they won’t be eager to try it again after they’ve served their time.
I am really casting aspersions on people who neglect to recognize that their parents need “attention.”
I am sorry I came off as a jerk. I spent so much time doing this for 3 uncles, an aunt, a mom, a dad, and now my wide that it drives me crazy when I hear these stories.
SO MANY people get concerned when the financial stuff happens—they want a lawyer to “protect” mom’s assets (for themselves!)
My mother in law lived with us from 72 to 95 before we could no longer care for herself.
In my aunt’s case, I would go over every day and check up on her and her brother. I remember driving home and calling my wife and saying, “Yes, Auntie... is OK. She had on a shower cap and no pants...but she hadn’t messed the floor.”
I literally pulled over the car and called our elder affairs liaison. Sometimes the insanity (literal) becomes some commonplace that it creeps up on you. I have to tell you...you haven’t had your heart ripped from your guts until you have to “section” your Godmother.
So, we agree.
I don’t have an answering machine. That is on a Samsung phone..
I’ve been targeted by all of these scams, plus a new one this morning:
Someone called claiming to represent my UTILITY company. Said they wanted to “help” me renew my energy-savings plan. I actually do have a plan, but all changes, renewals, payments, etc are initiated by me, online or on phone.
I knew the caller was “phishing” to get bank account info, so told him to scram.
But how did he get my name, number, & know about my utility plan?
I knew an elderly couple who got taken in by phone scammers who got account numbers & transferred 1000s into another account. This left an investigate-able paper trail. Their grown, out of state kids contacted parents’ bank & local cops,intending forthe bad guys to be caught.
Instead, the case was referred to social services, who proceeded to investigate the old couple for incompetence, mental illness, etc & try to move them into a facility. The old man threw the social workers out of his house & threatened to sue. Lol.
Your family’s solution was the right one, IMO.
God bless you for how you’ve managed to care for so many over the years. Truly, it is the work of a saint!
Touche!
I agree. Get rid of prisons - they are just monster factories.
Raise the bar for conviction. Use capital punishment for violent crimes like rape and armed robbery. Use corporal punishment for lessor offenses. Death for repeat offenders.
You want to scam old folks? We’ll beat you half to death for the first conviction and execute you for the second.
Your cell phone should also give you an option to “record greeting”. It’s the equivalent to an answering machine message.
These were not “active” decisions. I was pretty much the last one to leave the room. All the other relatives did the “thoughts and prayers” messages, but none of them could give up their social lives to do any heavy lifting.
But they all had something to say at the funeral...
I can sleep at night. I don’t know how they do.
This is a timely thread - I received a bogus SS call just a couple of hours ago. We get so many scam calls that I am all in favor of capital punishment.
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