Source: Grandkid in a car accident scam : Scams
Discovered on: 2022-05-23 09:20:23
Hello guys…i’d like your opinion on this.
I’d like to describe a scam that happened to grandma in 2019. Grandma is 83 now, pretty autonomous, and lives alone for many hours in the day.
So, a lady phoned her on landline to tell her that “her grandkid was involved in a terrible car accident, driving without mandatory insurance, and now risking jail”. Grandma immediately asked if it was me (i am the only grandkid old enough to drive) and she confirmed, saying i was in a life threatening situation, and as i caused the accident they needed 1000€ cash to quickly settle the case before police got involved. Gold was fine too. They would send an insurance agent to collect money in 15 minutes, so she’d better have the money ready.
Being shocked by the situation, grandma collected money and gold to pay them, but luckily she phoned aunt to ask her to bring more cash. Aunt alerted me, we told grandma to lock the door and we all rushed to her house, hoping to meet the “insurance agent”. The scammer didn’t show up, he probably saw us, but grandma felt sick and we needed to call paramedics to assist her.
Now, some considerations. This scam isn’t new, it’s a variation of “relative in jail” scam, but at a different level. They planned to send someone in person rather than asking for itunes cards. It makes sense, italian demographics show a lot of elderly people living alone that barely use Whatsapp or don’t have a smartphone, so if scammers ask them for a gift card, they will probably phone a grandkid for help and the grandkid will recognise the scam.
Grandma’s landline phone number, full name and home address is on a public phone book, and even if 20 years ago it was the norm, now it’s a big invasion of privacy. Younger people tend to remove the landline phone because only scammers and call centers use it, so phone books are basically a big pool of elderly scam candidates. Addresses lead to satellite and street view, so they could see if the house is isolated enough. We immediately had her removed from the new phone books, but scammers use old phone books.
My family is pretty secretive, scammers couldn’t gather information about us on social media, so i guess they phoned her pretending to be a call center, offering her a technologic service she didn’t understand, and asking her if/when a younger relative was available. An innocent answer like “my daughter and son in law who live downstairs aren’t at home in those hours, my grandkids live downtown” would be enough. We all should be more careful about what we say.
Last but not least, those filthy animals took advantage of the shock factor and didn’t give her time to think about what happened, they gave her only 15 minutes to grab as much as she could (even her and grandpa’s wedding bands that she wears together because she’s a widow), they put her health at risk for a quick buck, and for this they must rot in hell. I don’t know how to instruct my neighbours not to fall into a similar scam…i saw a tv program talking about it, but when it happens to you it’s different. We all felt so powerless and ashamed…
Source:Grandkid in a car accident scam : Scams
Discovered on: 2022-05-23 09:17:20
Learn more at Grandkid in a car accident scam : Scams
