PSA to remind your boomer parents to be aware of fraud via phone or email.
Posted by withoutadrought@reddit | Xennials | View on Reddit | 62 comments
So I stop by my mom’s house on my way home from work today. She tells me that her credit card company called her and told her that there was a new teller at her bank being investigated by the FBI for stealing information, and my mom needed to withdraw as much money as the bank would allow, and send it to Miami so they could keep it safe in an escrow account.
I honestly couldn’t believe she fell for it! She sent $10k dollars overnight through UPS, cost her $200 for shipping. Long story short, she called the number on her credit card(they didn’t call her about fraud), and was able to cancel the UPS delivery before it was loaded on the plane.
I didn’t think I needed to have the talk with her. Never, under any circumstances send money to a stranger on the phone or online. If you’re that concerned, call the number on your card and ask them, or go to your bank. Just wanted to pass it on. Our parents might need reminding every so often about these scams.
lightstarangelnyc@reddit
My dad fell for a pig butchering scam - lost 50K and it’s not coming back. Thing is I’ve warned him about this kinda stuff for ages. Him and his wife live in another state not close to me so I didn’t find out about this til recently. The generation that controlled our time online etc and they’re falling for all this so easy.
catsoncrack420@reddit
They tried to get my dad AND me. They must have hacked my nephews social media , called my dad as if he was in jail and Dad said bullshit you never call me! 😂 Called my brother immediately. Same for me. I was watching the Jets lose as usual and get the call. Voice was real good but I said bullshit, you play video games all day kid, don't have a life and you never call me.
Ill-Percentage-3276@reddit
If people got actual phone calls from me, they would assume I was under duress.
Kade7596@reddit
There are so many benefits to this lifestyle that they now understand. lol
Lord-Curriculum@reddit
Can confirm. My Mom's friend--also a Booner--got almost wiped clean. Entire 401k evaporated by a similar scam. Hundreds of thousands. They almost got her mortgage when my Mom and her friends intervened.
Boomer parents need to go through compliance training regardless of lame acting.
withoutadrought@reddit (OP)
That’s too sad. I hope she was able to recoup some of her money back. Bring back the pillories!
Lord-Curriculum@reddit
Unfortunately, not able to recoup any amount. I suspect her money's been laundered out of reach.
Scootyboots44@reddit
My parents almost wired thousands of dollars to some fraudster for bail believing I had run down some pregnant lady at 6 in the morning while driving to the gym. They impersonated me saying I had broken my nose and that’s why I sounded weird and the police seized my cell phone. The only thing that stopped them was my dad accidentally called me on my cell phone. I had to send him a selfie so he’d believe I wasn’t in jail. My parents were not the same for a bit after that.
Plutoniumburrito@reddit
I’m so glad that my dad thinks the real phone calls are fraud and won’t fall for anything. He is suspicious of everyone. Or he thinks they’re cops, and he hates cops 😂
Affectionate_Ask_769@reddit
I love your dad
YogurtclosetDull2380@reddit
Your dad is a real one. 🤜🤛
b_rup_breaks@reddit
I send my mom links to Kitboga or ScammerPaybsck YT channels each month and give her the this is the newest scam don't trust Anyone! 🤣
cupcakebean@reddit
My grandma fell for one of those "grandchild in trouble" scams. I have no idea how much she lost but there's a special place in hell for those scammers.
cupcakebean@reddit
My dad recently told me and my brother that he got a call from his bank and drove to the nearest branch. Luckily the teller told him to immediately hang up the phone. I NEVER would have expected my dad to fall for that. And he told us about it so casually, which scares me that he wasn't more alarmed that he was almost scammed.
Kade7596@reddit
If he was going to take any action, this
was the smartest first thing he could've done.
cupcakebean@reddit
He didn't drive there to see if it was legitimate, he thought it was a real call. I'm not sure why he went to the bank, but he's pretty old school so I'm afraid he was going to withdraw money. Luckily the teller clocked it immediately.
Maxfunky@reddit
It's gonna get pretty bad when scammers start using social media vids to clone your voice with AI before calling your granny.
Negative-Wrap95@reddit
withoutadrought@reddit (OP)
This is true, but with cameras everywhere nowadays, keeping anonymous online is nearly impossible.
Negative-Wrap95@reddit
Less information to cross reference.
Redhddgull@reddit
Ha! My grandmas are dead!
roonilwonwonweasly@reddit
I was lectured me about this very thing a couple of weeks ago. "Anything that's too good to be true is suspicious, so be careful".
withoutadrought@reddit (OP)
Very true. More people need the same mindset
roonilwonwonweasly@reddit
Some call it being jaded. I prefer my dad's way.
Ginger630@reddit
I’m so glad my dad never answers his phone lol! My mom is tech savvy even in her 70’s. She also worked for a bank and would be very suspicious of any phone call.
withoutadrought@reddit (OP)
lol, well at least he has your mom to watch his back if he ever decided to answer his phone.
Ginger630@reddit
Very true lol! If he ever did randomly answer, he’d probably get confused and then hand mom the phone. She’d hang up and tell my dad not to answer calls from people he doesn’t know. She’d attempt to explain scamming to him, but he’d half hear her.
Biddy_Impeccadillo@reddit
The AARP has a great ongoing podcast about this subject called The Perfect Scam. They have really sensitively done interviews with seniors who fell for these tricks and then devote some time to pointing out the warning signs and steps to take, plus initiatives to support etc. Maybe if we can get our folks hooked on listening to something like this it could help.
withoutadrought@reddit (OP)
Is it on YouTube? My mom is addicted to YouTube haha. I don’t know if she even knows what a podcast is.
Biddy_Impeccadillo@reddit
It looks like they have some clips from the full interviews on the YouTube AARP channel as “shorts.” Check out the playlist section on the channel and look for the one named FRAUD and a few other scam content ones on there. She can just let the playlist serve it up to her in order.
cashews_clay15@reddit
I’ve tried so many times but she believes everything is true but me. 😣
withoutadrought@reddit (OP)
Sorry to hear that. I hope she stays safe🙏
DerAlliMonster@reddit
My husband saved our neighbor from being scammed by giving remote access to their computer. The neighbor’s wife was suspicious and came to ask my husband’s advice, at which point he rushed over to their house and unplugged the modem immediately.
Our neighbor is a pretty sharp guy in most respects, but he was lucky my husband works from home.
withoutadrought@reddit (OP)
Nice save, sounds like a close one! Those computer ones look too real.
nocleverusername15@reddit
My mom thinks everything is a scam so I feel pretty lucky I don't have to worry about this.
withoutadrought@reddit (OP)
Nice! Sad we have to have that mindset, but it’s the only way to be safe nowadays.
Kade7596@reddit
I have adopted the 'everything is probably a scam' policy and remind them constantly of one of their own common sayings: if it seems too good to be true, it probably is
withoutadrought@reddit (OP)
Wise words to live by!
Jupitersd2017@reddit
r/scams is a great sub to subscribe to and see what scams are targeting our aging boomers and the younger generations - they are just as prone to falling for stuff like this!!!
withoutadrought@reddit (OP)
Sad, but so very true! I’ll have to get her on there, hopefully she’ll learn some different ways she could be scammed. There are too many out there unfortunately.
church-basement-lady@reddit
It’s so wild. I have an uncle who falls for everything. If the scammer either tells him he can make money or flirts with him, he falls for it hook, line, and sinker. He is poor as dirt, living on nothing but social security, and still sends money to obvious scams. Fortunately my parents and the other aunts and uncles are more savvy.
My favorite uncle is sharp as hell. At a family dinner I gave a little spiel about the potential of someone calling and claiming they were me or another cousin in a desperate situation and needing money, or kidnapped, or whatever. With zero hesitation my uncle said “don’t worry, I’ll tell ‘em I never liked you anyway.”
withoutadrought@reddit (OP)
lol, you can have her! That’s too bad about your other uncle. Too many seniors living that way, they don’t deserve that kind of treatment.
TuesDazeGone@reddit
We have to order my Dad a new card every few months because he falls for the scammers or signs up for subscriptions online that wipe his acct.
withoutadrought@reddit (OP)
Ouch, that’s rough. Hopefully he learns to stay safe🙏
i_make_people_angry@reddit
There are great resource pdfs on ftc.gov you can get for your parents particular weaknesses (romance, lottery, legal trouble, etc). There is also a worksheet you and your parent can fill out with who to contact if they get a call or text, how to block calls and texts, etc.
withoutadrought@reddit (OP)
Cool, I’ll look into that. Thanks for the info!
SlackerDS5@reddit
Mom got hit once, luckily it was a small amount. She is tech savvy enough now that she teaches other older adults what to look out for.
withoutadrought@reddit (OP)
That’s great she’s able and willing to help others after learning herself. That’s great it wasn’t catastrophic
GXP_2009@reddit
My father is pretty good at avoiding scams and keeping his computer clean. But he was a victim of a phishing scam, I'm guess, that installed SW on his computer where they could connect and control it. All they were able to do was log on to Amazon and order some gift cards which Amazon refunded. Took me about an hour to get the SW off his PC.
withoutadrought@reddit (OP)
I wish we could bring more of these people to justice. Especially the ones in the US. That’s good that’s all they were able to get!
super_chillito@reddit
Sadly this is so true. My dad has always been the smartest most aware person I know. He taught ME about fraud and bad characters of the world.
This same man reached his 70’s and proceeded to give all his bank info to a scammer over the phone and then could not for the life of him understand why I was freaking out.
It’s so hard watching your parents age sometimes.
withoutadrought@reddit (OP)
It is hard to watch. I hope everything worked out for your dad in that situation.
RJRoyalRules@reddit
My mom is pretty savvy but she did fall for one tech support scam, it was a fake warning triggered by a website that had her call "Microsoft." Tech support scams are the most dangerous for her because I think she doesn't feel independent if she has to call me for help so she's more likely to go along with them when something seems wrong with her computer.
withoutadrought@reddit (OP)
Those ones do look pretty believable, and they’re only going to get better. Imagine how productive these people could be if they focused on a business, instead of scamming people, smh.
justtapitin65@reddit
My friend’s Mom who’s in her 70’s, has given away over 100K to scammers. And there’s nothing they can do to stop her. She says it’s her money to give.
withoutadrought@reddit (OP)
I guess she’s not wrong, but if she’s going to just give her money away, she could find a good cause she’s passionate about. Screw those scammers
Spiritual-Promise402@reddit
I'm constantly telling my dad not to pick up strange phone calls and to stop buying stuff off of random websites. He's gone through about 6 new debit cards in the past 12 months bc his information keeps getting stolen. I only see it getting worse once he retires this year and has loads of time to be online, unsupervised
withoutadrought@reddit (OP)
Oof, that’s a tough one. Maybe you could talk him into getting one of those prepaid debit cards not linked to his bank.
LibertyCash@reddit
Yeah, my mom lost $14k to this shit last year. Infuriating.
withoutadrought@reddit (OP)
Ouch, sorry to hear that. I can’t say on Reddit what I’d like to do to these scammers, but it’s not very nice.
False-Cookie3379@reddit
And texts as well, I get a lot of them lately that say I have an unpaid toll or parking ticket.
withoutadrought@reddit (OP)
I get those too! I also got a usps one the other day . Something needs to be done about this before it gets worse than it already is.