Here’s how it works. While sitting at home in the evening, reading the paper, the phone rings. On answering, the first words are, “Oh, Mom! I love you so and I’m so sorry this happened.” The voice is unfamiliar, so the obvious question is, “Son, is that you. You don’t sound like yourself.”
He then tells her that he was in a car wreck, broke his jaw and nose and is on narcotics because of the pain. Then he further explains that he had been drinking, was arrested for DUI and is in jail in a distant city. “Please don’t tell anyone; I will lose my job. I’m going to put my lawyer on the phone and he will help get me out of this.” The lawyer, who knows the name of the mother, sounds quite plausible and says, and this is the first major tipoff, that for $4,000 bail they can solve the problem quickly.
At this point, the distraught mother is much more interested in helping her “son” than asking further questions and soon is involved in a bizarre transfer of money by purchasing gift cards and furnishing the numbers on the cards to the “lawyer.” Once the transfer is made, the money is gone. Meanwhile, the true son makes his daily call to his mother, realizes what has happened and is able to cancel some of the cards, so all was not lost.
There are many iterations to this scam. Failure to register for jury duty, ignoring a summons that was delivered by mail, a grandchild in trouble with the law, promise of romance on a dating site, a malfunction of your computer, credit card rate-lowering schemes, a call from a friend who has had his money and passport stolen in France. . . the list is endless.
There are many things that these scams have in common. First, the callers are very smooth and have personal information that seems valid. This is often obtained from social media.
Second, there is threat involved. It may be in the form of an injured child, a personal suit has been filed against you; it can be anything but they all signal threat or harm to someone you know.
The third signal is that money can fix the issue but it must be done in a quick time frame and the transfer must be handled via some unorthodox method such as gift cards, money grams, or the like. No checks, no cash, no credit card transfers, all of which leave a paper trail.
Caller ID may not help because non-traceable phones can be routed through a computer and substitute a valid number, the son, for example. If the caller ID shows Out of Area, private number, or unknown caller, rest assured it is not valid.
To protect yourself, NEVER deal with anyone who is asking for money by phone unless you have initiated the call. NEVER give a credit card number over the phone unless you placed the call. NEVER agree to any non-traditional way to transfer funds.
Do not argue or threaten to expose the caller. Just hang up and when they call back—as they will—do not answer the phone. Call the police. Since the phone is untraceable, there is little they can do. If money has been transferred it will be very difficult to recover it.
A ploy that sometimes works is to ask for a number so you can call them back, but it will likely be routed through a series of computers so the location and number of the perpetrator will not show up. Best to call someone who could verify the story.
As sometimes happens, the “friend” who is stranded in Paris may have been out to dinner with you recently, but there is always a story of why he is in France . . . unexpected business, etc. The scammers can lie on the fly with great facility. They can always think more quickly than the distressed elderly victim.
How does one get targeted? The con artists go online, search by area code, age group, income level, relevant social information such as a recent hospitalization revealed on social media, address, pictures of homes, aerial photos to show neighbor’s homes, and almost anything else you can think of.
Sadly these scams are so common that telephone solicitation by reputable charities is being greatly damaged. Asking for something in the mail is one way to respond to legitimate telephone solicitations.
Millions of dollars are being stolen this way. One would hope that authorities will develop technology to allow diversion of the call to the authorities and end this shameful invasion. As it stands now, if the criminals hook just one victim a day, it’s been “a good day at the office.”
Don’t be a victim; be vigilant.
Hayden Hollingsworth
