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This makes me sick when I read this. As a retired banker now, when I was working I had clients that got caught in scams and even when I beat them over the head that it was a scam, they didn't listen.
Please reach out to you family as it's not age related to warm them to be aware of scams like this or even the grandparent scam of getting a phone call from the so-called grandchild that needs money.
Unfort, this woman's money is gone and she's really screwed now.
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After a lifetime of working, raising a family and being there for her neighbors, Carole Robinson is on the cusp of losing everything.
All because of a scam.
In late October 2021, the Freehold widow received an email from what she thought was McAfee, the virus protection software company.
It said her annual subscription had been renewed for $499.99, charged to her Wells Fargo bank account.
It’s not something she wanted, she said, so she called the number provided in the email.
This is why I was later glad that my mother, when she as alive, refused all my attempts to get her to use a computer. I get these scam e-mails all the time, but I am more savvy than an elderly person would be. The awful thing is they never catch these people, because most are overseas.
One of my clients informed me that he won the Canadian Lottery.
No matter what I did to stop him from sending money, he wouldn't stop until he was out of 48k.
Another client wired out $4000 to a so-called friend who said that her pocketbook was stolen while in Europe and needed the funds to pay her hotel bill.
There were others, but both of the above, the individuals were far from elderly.
The worst part is when the victim can’t be convinced they’re being scammed. There was a woman who banked where I worked that was convinced she had an online boyfriend overseas who just needed money for a business venture and was going to give her the money right back. I told her multiple times in plain English that I am 100% certain that she is being scammed, but she would not budge. Sent the guy tens of thousands of dollars.
There was a story on Current Events a year or so ago where an elderly woman called a cab to take her to the bank. In the course of the drive, she told him why she needed to take money out, and he was sure it was a scam. But like you said, nothing he said convinced her. So instead of driving her to the bank, he detoured and drove her to a police station, where they confirmed for her it was a scam. Lucky she got that guy that day who cared enough to intervene.
It is a $4b a year industry; and those are just the known cases. Scams, malware, data breaches, credit card frauds, identify theft - and the list goes on.
The frauds are evolving far faster than tech, regulators, or law enforcement have evolved and adapted. All it takes is just opening an email, or clicking on a link, and your device is compromised. Though specifically for such cases, I wonder why the banks would not allow customers to add a cap on online transfers. Let's say a 5k or 10k self established limit for bill payments, balance transfers, etc. For any higher amount, the person, or their legal rep, must go to the branch in-person to execute the transfer. I'd think that would eliminate a large majority of cases where savings accounts and life savings are wiped off in seconds.
My only surprise is that the 81 year old is very mentally astute. She does not seem the type that would fall for this. She even said it was obvious after the fact, but not in the heat of the moment. This goes to show what happens when your emotions are involved rather than being cool headed and staying analytical.
We all laugh at those letters from Nigerian royalty, right? They are going to send you a trunkful of millions for safekeeping, and all you have to do is send them a shipping fee so that it can't be traced by whomever is trying to dethrone the Nigerian prince. You will be rewarded handsomely for your help. Of course, sometimes it is all-electronic, but often you send the shipping fee electronically or they access your bank account.
A few weeks ago, I found 3 or 4 obvious scams in my Spam Email folder on the same day. Of course, there was the old Nigerian royalty scam, but a couple of them purported to be from someone in an official capacity at Atlanta's airport, informing me that a large and very heavy parcel was waiting for me to pick up--pending receipt of the shipping fee from me. The common denominators with all of them were exceedingly poor language usage and email addresses that are clearly not from anyone in an official capacity.
But, from the scammer's perverted point of view, if they take the time to send out... let's say... 10,000 scam emails, and if even just one dimwitted person falls for the scam, then those thieves will wind-up with a lucrative payday.
Some of these victims are victims of greed on their part too. They are approached by a person claiming to have found a large sum of money or a winning lottery ticket who will share it with them (why?) if they will just hand over a substantial some of their own money as a show of good faith (why)? Instead of saying "take it to the police station" they get sucked in.
If you go to Asbury Park and try to park, there's certain sections where you can only pay with a parking app. We tried to sign up for the app with our phone and were taken to a page where it takes your credit card # and you sign up for a bunch of games. It's pretty clever and easy scam to fall for because both of us fell for it.
I had to cancel that account.
Not to mention the Parking Authority of Asbury Park was giving out tickets like they were giving out candy, presumably from people who couldn't figure out to use the app. And because they're too cheap to put in machines.
Shame on you Asbury...
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