The Attorney General's Office alerted me to this growing fraud last week. Scammers are targeting the elderly, claiming to be a family member in trouble, and conning them out of money. Then, that very day, I came across the Cooks' story, and followed up with them:
Teresa's family was also targeted by these scammers. Only this time, it appears they were just looking to take advantage of an elderly person, by tricking them to give out their bank account number. She was shocked at how aggressive they were.
Teresa writes:
My husband got a call from a man asking him if he was a senior citizen. My husband played along and said "yes" to see what he wanted. The man (Sam) told him that he needed a new "medical identification card" and that he needed to tell him his "medical identification number" to confirm the number that he had. My husband asked him what the med. identification number was and he said that he could find it on the bottom left of his "bank book" (we realized that he meant the checking account number and routing number). To make a long story short, my husband again played dumb until "Sam" got really frustrated. Thinking he would hang up, he continued. Instead, "Sam" continued to press him, (even after my husband pretended that he had had a stroke and also that his wife had died and he didn't have any idea where a bankbook would be) We thought he would get off the phone when my husband pretended his son was in the room, but "Sam" wanted to talk to him. This continued on! He kept pressing for the bankbook, even telling them where to look (by the nightstand, etc.) FInally, my husband called him out, saying that he was scamming people. He even asked him who the president of the US was (Because my husband believed he was calling form another country) The man said "George Bush" My husband said "who?" And he replied "The Prime Minister." He got off the phone and we were both very disturbed by how much he bullyed my husband. We were concerned that this man would do this again to some poor elderly person and wipe their bank account clean. We just wanted to let you know about this. Thanks!
It's really disgusting what these crooks are trying to do, don't you think. As you surmised, Teresa, it's a pretty good bet that this guy was calling from out of country. They are looking for your money. They're either going to ask you to wire it to them, or try to dupe you into handing over your personal information. It's really not all that sophisticated or complicated.
The Attorney General's Office says this is a growing crime, and just alerted me about another elderly victim in Auburn. The best thing to do, is if you get a call from someone claiming to be a member of your family, ask a few questions that only a member of the family would now. That should tip you off as to whether it's legit.
I'm Bill Wixey, keeping your money safe.