For those with aging parents please advise them to have a big bold sign next to their telephones and have them practice the words..." My son/daughter is a lawyer/doctor/accountant/retired police officer or whatever and you are welcome to call them at phone number to discuss this." It happened to my mom-she received a call from a person identifying himself as my son and that he needed bail money in Mexico. She said it sounded just like him. He was to call back in 10 minutes with the info of where to send the money. Fortunately a sibling was there to squelch the second call. This was about a year ago. The sign went up immediately. Very recently a friend of mine told me the story of it happening to his parents recently; he is an only child and his son is an only child. His son, a college grad from a similar school as ours was allegedly in jail in Atlanta and needed bail money. The parents were convinced it was their grandson calling. Fortunately, they tried to reach their son but got his secretary who had members in the firm call contacts in Atlanta who confirmed fraud ( the son was in court and unable to speak to his parents to let them know the grandson was on the road in the Northeast). He called immediately and had to convince his parents it was not their grandson, who, he also had call them. They still wanted the grandson to drive straight to their house so they could see he was ok. The callers are very convincing. My mom has also had the normal phishing phone calls for her credit card but her recitation of the big sign by the phone has been a help. Why practice? Read Malcolm Gladwell's Blink- there is a short passage where he describes people, especially the elderly, in a panic mode dialing 411 instead of 911 simply because those are the numbers they are used to dialing.
Re Elderly fraud alert- this is real
- Thread starter Anachnoid
- Start date
A, there are tons of things going on out there and the elderly, which i am now, are huge targets. know you are an attorney but for any of you out there who do not have power of attorney with your parents or other family members who you care for in some way, GET IT! it is a touchy subject but my wife and i went through a very disturbing time where we had to sue our aunt to be able to take care of her financial affairs and then have to do an accounting for a judge each and every year. it is so much easier to get the power of attorney than to spend all that money suing your loved one to be able to take care of he or she. had men come into my aunt's home in atlanta and tell her that they had finished her yard work and that it would be $500 which she paid and they had done nothing. my cousin then put up signs on her door DO NOT PAY ANYONE, ANYTHING!! glad you guys saved your mom and a good warning for all of us to be alert....thanks
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