Watch out for your parents, grandparents

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

This article left me with my jaw hanging. I had no idea how elderly people with maybe the beginnings of demetia could get scammed so thouroughly and so long. This couple even ended up laundering money for their scammer. Do watch out for your aging parents, grandparents.

Elder fraud: One coupleā€™s losses and hard lessons - Post-Tribune

[bjl584]

That makes me sick. My Grandmother has dimentia and it sickens me that someone could prey on someone like that. Dimentia is a horrible disease. It is frustrating to deal with. People get caught in "loops" where logic and time don't exist.

Thankfully, my family is in full control of her finances. She has no access to her money and all of her mail has been forwarded to my Uncle (her son.)

[JoeP]

The amount of information available online to target people is growing every day, whether it is mailing lists or contact data sold from those who are trusted to keep it confidential. It is no wonder that people who do not realize this incorrectly assume that the solicitation must be authentic; after all, reputable firms would have gone through the proper and legal channels to make contact. And with people living longer and more independently, sometimes with health issues managed by medication that might be forgotten or not terribly effective, it makes it harder for relatives and even the government to prevent and follow up on.

In any case, the advice by Joan is dead-on.

[MonkeyMama]

watch out for your aging parents, grandparents.

So true. Even if they are merely sick or lonely. Easy prey.

A - eldery client sold commercial property for 1 million +. Public record - she got multiple calls the day after they closed (scam vultures). She knew better but was appalled.

B - friend's mom was very ill and after passing they found 20k missing. She bought caregiver a CAR! Had all faculties but was lonely and easily manipulated.

C - my graNdma's friend and spouse's grandma hit by same scam in same month. Someone posed as relative Who needed emergency money wired. For spouse's g-ma she was in such denial that entire family thought it was likely grandson-in-law scammed her. Being an in-law it deeply disturbed me they rather believe that. These are smart people. It helped to say we had just experienced exact same scam.

[FrugalTexan75]

Not too long ago we got a call here at my grandma's house. I answered it. Some young man said, "Grandma??" I said that I was her granddaughter. He then asked me to guess who he was. I told him I had no idea. He persisted, so finally I gave him a fake male name. He said that was exactly who he was. About then my Aunt got on the phone and told him that his voice wasn't right for the fake person. So she said another name (real name) and he said "you got me!" Then she asked him where he'd last seen her ... he guessed CA (wrong!!) When she called him on it, he hung up.

Before my aunt had gotten on, the young male had told me that he was on a surprise trip in South America. So I have the feeling that he was going to attempt to ask for money if grandma had actually answered.

[MonkeyMama]

@FT - yup - that is the scam. It is good you were there to answer the phone!

In my dh's Grandma's case the story was actually much more believable, she can't hear very well, and swore he answered the phone calling her by a nickname that only this one family member calls her. I think she misunderstood and the caller got lucky. The entire story was feasible, EXCEPT for the part where ANY of her grandkids or their spouses would *ever* ask her for money. Not going to happen! Throw in the "This is a secret and no one can know." Ugh!

[scubatim84]

Wow, it's really sad that this is so prevalent. This happened to my father-in-law's mother. She was developing dementia and had people calling her at her house wanting her to buy some "product" or some sort of nonsense like that. She ended up getting scammed out of over $15,000...it was a big mess, police got involved and my father-in-law had to go out to Michigan from California, where he lives, to go to court to have her placed in the care of the state so she couldn't touch her own finances anymore. I thought this was just a weird anomaly but I guess it's common...disgusting.

[rob62521]

Crooks always prey on the weak...our parents and grandparents usually have a heart of gold because they believed in people. Thanks for the warning!