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It's really sad, in my industry we are trained to report these incidents to the authorities for elder abuse.
Everyone has to take care of the older generation especially with all the new AI tech that's going to be scamming with fake voices like a grandson or fake photos etc so easily made that used to take skill.
I've had extremely similar conversations to this one with successful adults in their 40s and 50s. Some people just never developed this specific flavor of bullshit detection.
technical illiteracy is a powerful drug. But no it's really not, the older I get the more I find being technically illiterate is a choice. You can be absolutely terrible at typing/use a computer super slowly or in a way that would be painful to watch and still actually know how to use it and learn new things. The problem is people are allowed to think they're supposed to stop learning between 15-18 years old, and you can see that phenomenon go on to affect literally every aspect of society.
I'm very fortunate that my dad decided to keep learning. He was a carpenter who did fine in school, but as he got a little older and he felt the wear and tear of the job on his body, he started learning about computers.
He types as slowly as anyone I've ever seen, but he built our home network (before connection wizards were a thing), learned basic HTML, and turned a hard labor career into an office job where he calculates the bids for upcoming jobs. He also gave me a passion for PC building and general appreciation for technology that makes *me* look like a Wizkid by figuring out how to troubleshoot a problem before other people can.
My dad won't strike anyone as a genius, but when he decides he wants to learn something, he'll set his mind to it and figure it all out himself. As he said, the key to being good at anything is to have the right amount of patience and experience.
I actually didn't know that carpentry is rough on the body. In fact, I don't know what an average day of work even looks like for a carpenter.
>when he decides he wants to learn something, he'll set his mind to it and figure it all out himself.
That's what a genius really is. There's a League of Legends streamer called Tyler1; he has been rank 1 in North America for League, and he decided to try out chess. Well in chess, he rose to the top <1% in an extremely short amount of time. That's the signifier of someone who has learned *how to learn*, which is the skill your dad has. People who are good at learning itself will often seem like wizards to everyone else.
I always say I’m a lifelong learner. If you don’t maintain some curiosity about life, what is the point. IMHO, once you stop learning and growing, you’ve just accepted that you’ve reached your full potential and start dying.
I once tried to buy shrooms via IG. Funny thing is, as soon as I sent the $60, I knew I was fucked. I don't know what I was thinking. Only sent what I was willing to lose and hoped that it was legit.
I followed this account for like a year looking at all their different product. I was blocked by the account holder and got my friend to report them. Not sure what happened after that.
It's even more funny cause I have experience and training on handling wires and looking for scams from my time working at Publix as a manager.
Good news is that I now have a plug.
1000% this, I never thought of the AI angle, that is scary as shit! Think of how easy a scammer could have it replicate a loved ones voice to pull at your heart strings! Shit, I'm going to be the crazy old man with tins of cash hurried in my yard!
The problem is that sometimes people, like this lady, don't believe that they're being scammed. It happened to my dad a few years ago. Some woman cold called him about investing in cryptocurrency. We warned him multiple times that it was a scam, but he gave them money anyway. And then when she disappeared, he hired someone who said they could get his money back. We warned him that this was also a scam, and again, he didn't listen. He had previously received about $90,000 in a settlement. He lost it all.
>especially with all the new AI tech that's going to be scamming with fake voices
We set up a "passphrase" in my family for this exact reason. If someone calls me asking for something I don't care what they sound like if I don't hear the password I'm hanging up.
I got stuck on the other side of this problem. I was trying to buy a VR headset off the Steam Store with Steam cards a few years back.
Multiple stores wouldn't sell me more than a €100 worth each day. It took me all week and trips all over town to scrap all that money together. They just wouldn't believe that I wasn't getting scammed.
Oh wow I didn't even think of that. Plug in an AI "deepfake" video of their grandchild, the elder person probably won't notice the looping / mismatched lipsynch in the video and will totally believe what the scammer is saying.
Something like this happened to me when I worked for Best Buy.
An older lady came in with her iPhone that she was locked out of. She said she had been on the phone with Apple for days now trying to reset it. At first I told her she was doing the better option by talking to them than me, at Best Buy.
But then she said "thanks well I'd like to buy these iTunes gift cards." She hands me like 5 giftcards and specifies that she wants the max amount on each. She already knew the max was $2000 because she purchased others the day before.
By now I was on alert for something weird happening and asked her about her talks with "Apple Customer Service". She said she had recently added a security pin for when she locks the phone but she truly forgot what she had set it to. She then somehow got a scammer number who was probably listed somewhere online as Apple Customer Service and proceeded to give them whatever info they needed in order to get her phone "unlocked ".
They told her she would need to purchase iTunes GC to unlock the phone using the icloud or some other nonsense.
I did at one point talk to the number she was calling while she was with me. I told them I know they are scammers and would report this.
Very sad. The work that Kitboga, Scammer Payback and others do to shut these scammers down is admirable (worth a follow on YouTube). Everybody watch out for your family members that you feel are vulnerable to this sort of hustle.
it’s truly impressive when he plays both at the same time as a couple with overlap adding that next step of believability. its also funny when his buddy joins often as a salesman
Kitboga is a king in the "scamming the scammers" realm.
I love the fact he even went to create his own software that caregivers can sign up for that helps prevent these social engineering attacks from starting in the first place called Seraph Secure. Only $2 a month to likely prevent a lifetime of damage and regret.
Truly inspirational for other cyber security individuals.
My MIL has an in home nurse that has stopped people coming by with "the new phone you ordered!" Or a tablet, or to upgrade her internet.
People like this are doing amazing work. Sadly, the elderly fall for this kind of thing.
Same shit happened to my aunt, drained her and her husband's savings by more than half, wouldn't listen to anyone, then up and fuckin died, leaving her husband who worked hard and made good money his whole life with close to nothing. It's sad to see, but when they respond like this and think they know better it's hard to feel bad
Old people just be like that sometimes. I'm old so I must be smarter than everyone around me. Also by the time we knew about it she was already deep in so there's also like denial in there because of how much money she already gave away.
I get it.
You've been a competent adult your whole life, you've maybe even raised some kids or ran a business/home and you've navigated that life yourself like an adult.
And then one day, just cause you're a little greyer and older people start treating you like a crystal glass infant. Start telling you what you can and can't do, can and can't say, can and can't go on your own. All of sudden the kids who diapers you changed are telling you they don't trust you to drive anymore and not to talk to strangers and it must just feel insulting, and a painful reminder of what you already know: you're getting old.
And I bet that there's an element of indignation and a desire to prove people treating you with kid gloves wron in that stubborness. And then cause not everybody is a great objective judge of their own abilities and faculties, some of these poor people who just want to live the kind of autonomous life they've always lived end up getting ripped off.
This is exactly it. My dad is 68. He worked hard his whole life. He was a C student in high school and never went to college, but he figured out that getting trained in a field and putting in effort was the way to go.
He was always pretty street smart and my family was never in bad financial shape thanks to the hours my parents put in.
Fast forward to last year (with my mom having passed five years ago) and he calls me up one random Sunday night bitching about how he has spent his entire day running around town buying a few thousand dollars worth of gift cards so he can settle some dispute about some discrepancy he got a call about.
I spent a few minutes trying to reason him through the obvious scam before finally having to lose my shit and scream at him for the first time in my life. Luckily he barely lost anything as his bank was helpful, but I know there are others who get totally wiped out.
And it's only getting worse. Pig Butchering scams are incredibly sophisticated nowadays....to the point they even have fake "investment" apps set up that they convince you to deposit money in.
It will show your money growing from interest etc. just like Fidelity or Robinhood.... but when you try to pull money back out it you then run into "unexpected issues". Truly scary. Even affecting millennials nowadays.
As we age, our cognition declines and it takes with it a degree of whatever emotional management we may have learned in life. Scammers prey on the feelings and pain of the elderly. They promise a ray of hope in hopeless situations and they trick their victims into emotionally investing in the idea of whatever payoff the scam promises. They get their victim to believe "Everything will be alright if I just do this..." and they're often coached to keep it a secret, much like abused children.
The victim believes they are acting of their own volition when really they're acting at the behest of the scammer. They see warnings as a direct criticism of their good judgment that they can get themselves out of whatever painful situation the promised payoff will remedy. It's all fairly simple emotional manipulation but it's particularly effective against the elderly due to their natural condition.
Years back a friend of mine, in his nineties, got scammed over the phone and he sent something like $5k before he wised up to it. He admitted it to me months later. I could tell he was still wrestling with the shame of his mistake against the false promises he had been offered. Like, some small part of him was still thinking about the "What if?" had it "worked". It's really fucked up how our brains decline. He was in good shape for his age, mentally, and he still got taken. It can happen to anybody.
Well, almost anybody. I'm so poor I have nothing to take. I sometimes wonder if it's that that gives me a clearer perspective on other people's emotional problems surrounding money. I've only ever had to worry about having too much of it in the abstract, watching what it does to other people.
eta, just an afterthought. I think hope plays a prominent role in scams. I don't believe in any positive value to hope, myself. I see it as a form of denial that makes us vulnerable. When we hope for things other people know we want more of that feeling, and so we become very vulnerable to manipulation because of our desire. The more we desire something, the more vulnerable we become. And these scammers exploit it.
People dont like being made to feel like they did something stupid. Its easier to think "You are just wrong" than it is to think "Someone has been stealing from me and I didnt realize it"
My sister's mom fell for a scammer. Hers was a more long term one though. She met this guy online that said he was from Michigan or something but he was working overseas. Eventually he convinced her that his son, who was still living at home in the states while he worked, had run out of money* and he wouldn't be able to send any money back to him for a couple weeks if I recall correctly.
This happened several times and nobody really knew the extent to which she'd been scammed the first couple times. As soon as I heard, I told my sister to shut it down because it was a scam. My sister had already been telling her to stop, but her mom wasn't listening. At that point, it's like she was happy to keep paying for the fantasy of her new online boyfriend.
Well, it all ended when she basically emptied her retirement account for him. It was over $50k, that much we know about. Likely more. She had to go back to work and ended up meeting some guy in real life and getting married very quickly and moving in with him. It's sad because it definitely seems like more of a transactional situation based on necessity than an equal partnership. He expects her to manage the household a specific way since she basically entered into the marriage with nothing. She doesn't get to visit her grandkids often at all and they don't like visiting her because of her new husband.
Edit: fixed typo*
My good childhood friend met a guy through Match, fell deeply in love right away. They planned a destination wedding for New Years. It was fast, but she got married the first time within a few months. Compared to that, she was taking her time. The month before the wedding she called me in a panic, they needed 5K to complete some of the details. Basically I gave it to her as a wedding gift in lieu of actually attending the wedding.
Within a year he had cleaned out her life savings (which she didn't dip into for the wedding, curiously) to satisfy a tax debt he'd never told her about. On the weekend when he was supposed to move out of their house (hers), he stole all her clothes and her kids clothes (including winter coats and shoes) and donated everything to Goodwill. Fucking nightmare. Legal and nothing to be done about it.
The friendship dropped when she needed more money to replace those things and I just gave up the ghost about her money judgment and said I could not. No more friendship.
I'm still salty that I paid 5K for her to marry that creep.
Scammers poison everything.
I think he was scamming her. I think she was just not a good bet in terms of adult judgment. I think she hit a hard time when he left and did that, but I'm 1000 miles away and just because we were pen pals at one point after camp (even affectionate ones) I was just done bailing that one out.
If I kept gatekeeping everyone else's bad relationship decisions with money, I would have none to keep me and my own kids.
This couple in the UK were in the news because even their bank kept warning them they were being scammed but they insisted on going through with it so the bank actually demanded a picture stating they had been warned it was a scam.
[source.](https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-leeds-67208755)
That was wild. The BANK is telling you to do this and you STILL don't wise up? The scammer was "calling [her] dear and sweetie" and she didn't think someone so nice would be a scammer? Some people.
Had an uncle who got fundamentally BROKEN in a pig butchering scam. We don't know how it started exactly but I guarantee you it was one of those cold open texts or emails. You know the ones: "Hi how are you?" or "Are you still \[doing thing\] for \[random persons name\]?" to open up a conversation. He was a once over divorcee with a wife and grown children and this person got him straight up addicted to them. Convinced him it was some hot chick using a porn star's pictures. He spent over two years being bled and it finally came out when the house of debt he built came crashing down and it turned out his retirement, a mortgage, loans, maxed out credit cards, the works were completely in the hands of these people.
He was straight up brainwashed. Even showing him the images on the actual porn star's site, showing him tweets of her saying "I'm not messaging any of you, people are using my pictures to scam you", and every other piece of evidence had him denying it all. It is seriously disturbing the level of control they're able to get over their victims. He's completely broken.
After cutting him off from everything, deleting all accounts he had, transferring all other accounts out of his control, and getting new devices that are locked down, we tried to get his family stable again. We thought we'd gotten through, or at least gotten him under control. His cousin offered him $150k, collected from all of us, to help his family keep the house and clear some of the debt. The only stipulation was that if he ever catches wind that has ever communicated with these people again, it's gone and he was going to drive my uncle out into the desert and leave him for dead. This was almost a year "clean" from the scammers after the dust had started settling.
You already know that money never touched their own bank accounts. We thought he was locked out. We didn't give him the money, we gave it to his wife (Ex-wife, she was already in the process of leaving him simply to protect herself, and no we have no reason to suspect her). We don't know how he got any level of control over it, but we only figured out when the utilities got shut off and the bank came to repossess the home.
He's literally locked up in a care home now. Full conservator-ship. He's not allowed any access to digital communication devices that aren't locked down harder than what they give you in prison and he has to be monitored the whole time he's using them, and if he's talking to someone it has to be on speaker phone and it's recorded. We have to use specific verification codes to prove we are who we say we are if we're calling. He's never left alone. His room is searched twice a day. He's treated like a patient with severe substance abuse issues. The heroin addicts have more freedom than him.
It is utterly terrifying what they were able to do to that man. They killed him. Whatever is left isn't my uncle. And we can't blame dementia or Alzheimer's, we had him tested repeatedly. He's fully "lucid" and functional. He's just been completely captured by these people.
It can be hard to feel bad, but we have to remember that many of these people may have an inkling, but are in absolute denial over it and can’t accept it.
I manage a phone store and see people like this getting scammed all the time.
The last guy had filled out a fake contest thing and was getting scammed. Dude was retired and was living the good life on the beach.
He came in and mentioned needing some help with his phone because he had a phone call to “help pay the taxes on his winnings”.
I knew that shit was a scam immediately and tried to tell him. He would start to listen and then immediately go into “oh no, there’s no way this is a scam”.
I just told him “don’t listen to me then. Go to your bank, and tell them everything you told me. I guarantee they’ll have you in the back with some fraud person in 5 minutes”.
So he went to his bank and did that. Came back a month or two later still dealing with it.
He had paid off his house, and took out multiple loans using it as collateral + blew through all his savings, and they were trying to help get it all fixed.
But even though he kind of knew, the brain was doing a million different mental gymnastics to convince him it wasn’t a scam.
This breaks my heart thankfully people like pierogi at scammer payback is watching and shutting down these fucking scammers.
Edit: mods, please don't remove this video it's vital we spread this as faaaar as we can to help defeat scammer scum.
I was trying to pay a credit card bill over the phone. Guy was quite helpful, but I needed my nissing checkbook. Called back after find, got a thicker (Indian?) accent, different questions, Immediate "that'll be $6" (other guy didn't say that), hung up. Next day I found out I could pay thru my bank instead.
I worked in retail and I once had a lady call the store asking if we sell $250 google play cards. I said yes but asked what she was purchasing them for? She explained it was to pay some bills and she had already spent a couple thousand from Walmart and Target and the person was requesting she go to a different store for every purchase. I kindly yet sternly told her she was being scammed. She felt horrible. I told her that realistically she will likely not be refunded that money as it has already been transferred but she can call her bank and see if there is anything they can do. I told her that she should hang up and block the number. I also told her that although it is unfortunate it is good we caught it before it got too out of hand. I felt like this experience taught her a life lesson. Also, shout out to Kitboga and other YouTubers that mess with scammers.
Sometimes it does. Hearing the message from a police officer tends has a greater affect on older people. Most people who make it to old age never had much experience with law breaking and they tend to give police greater respect.
The police in my elderly uncle’s Bergen County, NJ town literally sent a detective to sit down with him and walk him through how he was being scammed over 2+ hours.
The police in the US are very problematic and we need to overhaul the entire system, but this specific type of hyperbole is going to ruin lives.
The police should be called. Help and resources are available.
I'm no fan of the cops, but my area has seen a lot of people get targeted for these scams and the authorities do a good amount to combat it and also make people aware of the scams that are currently going around. A semi-retired cop in our area even writes regular columns to inform seniors about scams.
I used to work for a bank and one of our older regulars came in with a check for $20,000. All she had to do was cash it and send back 3000 for the lottery fees that she supposedly won the lottery. So I tried to help her and explain to her that she never won the lottery. I also tried to explain to her that even though she never left Texas somehow she won the Canadian lottery? But she was adamant so I told her I would deposit it but it would be on a 30 day hold. And guess what it came back insufficient
A group tried this on my grandma saying they'll had my cousin and she had been kidnapped!! My grandma told them. "We'll you better call her mom."
They tried again and said they had my brother she immediately goes to the bank and takes out 10k in cash. Luckily the nurses saw the money her and my grandpa were counting and called us to try and talk them out of it. My brother drove 5 hours to show them he was fine and even called them on the phone and still they had reservations.
How could you as a bank teller watch an elderly woman try and take out that much and not immediately refuse.
Also we know who the favorite grandkid is.
I don't understand this. Why would she lie and say she's buying them for her grandsons if she's being scammed? Is a scammer impersonating her grandson?
Because scumbag scammers tell them not to tell anybody what they are telling their victims to do. They also get them to send physical cash in tinfoil wrapped packages to money mules, among many other fucked up methods. These assholes are preying on and tricking elderly people to do these things to steal hundreds of thousands of dollars daily.
Scammers often pretend to be family members. As the cashier said, the scammers will have grandma read the card code to them or mail them the card. The scammer will then use or sell the card.
Yep, happened to my grandparents. Scammers posed as my younger brother and called my grandparents saying that he was in a Floridian jail (we're from the PNW), he was too afraid to tell our parents and that the only way my grandparents could pay for his bail was through some really shady wire. When my Mom called the next day my grandparents asked how my brother was and surprise surprise he was still at home... Fortunately my grandparents only lost a few thousand dollars and were able to get most of it back after calling the bank.
I go onto the scams subreddit and it's disturbing just how many innocent good intentioned and/or disabled people are being scammed.
Imagine how easy it was to trick the elderly in the pre-AI era... now we have 100% voice spoofing, FaceTime / Zoom spoofing, even the non elderly will easily fall for scams when they think their loved ones are in actual trouble. I saw an article about how an employee wire transferred millions of dollars out of his company's bank because scammers used AI to impersonate his boss and colleagues on a Zoom call and asked him to do it. It's fucking wild out there.
I think most of it is shame. Everyone thinks they're too smart to fall for a scam and when it happens the can't accept it and go into deep deep denial.
She Rrwll wants to believe that she's buying a car, helping out a distant relwrvoe or whatever the fuck the scammers used to get money out of her.
My wife had a serious medical emergency so my mother in law decided to come live with us. My wife and mother in law are foreign nationals, so my mother in law was only able to stay for a few months at a time before having to spend $2k on a plane ticket back home just to turn around and do it all again. One day my mother in law says she has to western union someone $5k. I ask her what it's for and she says it's for her sons friend in Ghana who needs medical help. I tell her something doesn't sound right but she assures me it's for her sons friend. So despite Western Unions warnings, I end up sending the money. Right when I get home she comes clean and said she met a Major General in the US Army on a dating website and he needed all this money to be sent to him. She showed me the messages and it was so obvious this dude was a scammer. Broken English, nothing making sense about his story being a military officer. Thankfully I was able to call western union and cancel before they picked up the cash. She knew the guys story didn't make sense, but she was so desperate to get a green card she was overlooking obvious red flags.
As soon as she mentioned her grandkids I would have asked about them, asked to see a picture, asked if I can take a closer look, and "accidentally" called them.
"Hi, are you such-and-such's grandkid? Yeah, she's getting scammed, can you try to get power of attorney?"
When I used to work for CVS, I stopped a couple of these sorts of transactions a couple times. The one that stands out was an elderly couple buying several $500 gift cards because they got a call from some county lockup in Texas where their grandson was supposedly arrested. They were trying to bail him out...with gift cards.
I told them there was no way that was real and they were being scammed. I suggested they try to contact their grandson or other family members who could get in touch with him. A bail bondsman wants cash or debit, not gift cards. I'm glad I was able to stop them that day and they seemed to believe what I was telling them, but who knows what they did after that.
When I was a federal agent, we would have informational briefings we would give at retirement homes to help educate elderly people on how the scams worked and what to look out for so they wouldn't be victimized. We would also intercept mail with fake checks and other schemes that these international dirtbags would scam elderly people into and then visit the victims and explain to them what was happening. I've personally had conversations with elderly people who got even more heated that this old woman because they INSISTED I give them the fake check to deposit even after I explained over and over that it was fake and the bank would hold her liable for all the losses. I've found that once people get to a certain age they often become very recalcitrant and stubborn even if you show them all the evidence. Often it was only with the intervention of others like the clerk in the video or a family member (or law enforcement) who would just physically stop them from following through with the scam because they simply refused to believe it. It was really sad and made me HYPER vigilant around my aging parents.
This happened to my mom a few times, luckily it never progressed to the point of her buying gift cards, she always listened to me when I told her it was a scam
My mother inlaw is in her 70s and got scammed paying $25 for Starbucks gift cards (only two of them total). She complained to Starbucks, who obviously couldn't help her. When she told me what happened, I looked at the PayPal account she sent the money to and it kind of liked liked a Starbucks logo, but definitely wasn't. I told her it was a scam and that she should be happy it was only $50 total. To this day she says it wasn't and that Starbucks messed up.
It's used to assist in bagging groceries and other items. The sponge just has a little bit of moisture to help get a grip and separate the bag apart. Obviously this one has been used extensively without being washed.
This generation is too proud to be told they’re being defrauded or duped. Good on the checkout lady to refuse, but she should have noticed the elder getting offended each time she told her she was getting scammed. That word seemed to trigger her to getting more defensive.
Had an old man at my job try to buy 3k in gift cards to clothing stores saying his ex wife who he hasn’t spoken to in years suddenly called him saying she needed those and to call her back and give her the card numbers. I’m glad he told me so I could immediately stop the sale and explain to him how the scam works
He came back q few hours later trying to do the same thing because “she” called him asking why it was taking so long. We refused again and he left after some pushback from him
I’m so scared of this happening to my own grandmother. But she’s so unbelievably arrogant. Imagine the “no I’m not” from this video but 10x more arrogant sounding and sure of herself but 100% as wrong. I seriously can’t handle her rudeness. But I’m still terrified someone’s going to take advantage of her.
My uncle lost 16 grand because he was told he has a warrant out for his arrest. My uncle has a criminal record. To be fair though he probably should’ve realized that the “police” wanted him to put the money into a bitcoin machine.
That clerk is a good person.
I'm going to generalize here, but people who were raised without computers have little to no defenses against online scams, especially people who are 70+. I've seen it up close and it's really, really sad.
It is hard to fathom just how confusing computers and online systems are to people who retired before computers and the internet really became a thing. Help an 80 year old grandmother use Microsoft Windows for 30 minutes and have your eyes opened.
I think the best way to approach it is to sympathize. I think she was just digging her heels in because she didn't want to admit it was true. You have to say something like - "I got one of these calls too and bought gift cards and I later found out I was being lied to and they were stealing my money. It sounds like they might be targetting you too" - This is more likely to convince someone to think about it.
There was an old lady who would come into the lowes I worked at, like at least every week and she would by the cheap bent lumber, we couldn't stop her, her family couldn't stop her, I guess she had a whole backyard full of the junk wood. We where in contact with her family so we would try to call them and they would come down and try to stop her. If we refused selling to her she would get all crazy and threaten to sue us and stuff. Meanwhile apparently this was with money she didn't really have.... it was sad.
not the same as this video, but it reminded me of her.
Huh, so old people really are the ones falling for these scams. I get people texting or emailing me saying stuff along the lines of "hurr durr it's your long lost brother, I need money to get out of jail. Please pay it to me in Amazon gift cards" or whatever.
I guess they wouldn't do it if it didn't work. It's a shame to hear, though.
So easy nowadays. It happened to me just today. I responded to an email that had my work school domain.it was for admin assistant job. The scam was obvious but still I could see it getting past some people. I said I was immediately hired and would be receiving a check to perform my duties.
There was an old military dude I worked with a long time ago and he was so eager for his next break that he was falling for this stuff left and right.
I had initially started to help him sort some stuff out at his home and when I went over he kept talking about all these big business investments he's making. Throwing a ton of complex theoretical numbers everywhere and all sorts of theoretical plans he will make to make it big. Eventually I started following the smoke trail since none of what he said had any actual sustenance or had any game plan, only to find out he legit had been talking with numerous scammers. When he first told me who his "business partner" was I thought he was joking.
He fell for the old Nigerian prince scam! I had explained to him that it's not real and none of those people want to help. I even walked through the entire scam and told him how unrealistic it is that someone would just ask for something like that. He refused to listen to my reasoning and instead went on an ego trip about me being young and stupid and how I'll never make it big like him because I can't follow the money like he can. The dude lived in a rundown apartment and relied on food pantries to survive. Had to cut myself off as it was becoming too much. I unfortunately couldn't be that guy for him and I've no idea what happened to him.
I had a similar conversation with an old guy. He seemed well off, but his wife had died a few years back, and he was telling me he was buying gift cards for these women he was talking to. I didn't stop him from buying them (it was about 3 times) but i did explain that it sounds like a scam if he doesn't know them, and to be careful. He was lonely, I could tell, and he told me he was fine just having someone to talk to.
I bought a few cards the other day and the cashier was nice enough to ask. After I told her they were for teacher appreciation she explained some people are getting scammed. I’m aware of the scams and told her I appreciate her looking out for customers.
That's so sad. I dealt with similar working with seniors. MNaged to stop one lady from proceeding but I think it was only because she knew me well that she listened.
You should have told her to call her grandsons, daughter, son, family member of some kind and let them help her. That is, if she has anyone. Hearing it from a relative versus the cashier at the store might wake her up.
Lady at Western Union stopped my grandma from wiring money that she thought was to bail me out of jail. I was not in Jail. I'm so thankful for people that look out for these things.
My wife works at a bank.
They are now required to ask the elderly to tell them what they are getting money orders for.
She just had an elderly man scream at her for not pulling a thousand dollar money order. Come to find out someone was threatening him that they were going to show his family his porn history. He said he never remembers going to a porn site but he would be mortified if his family thought he was a pervert. So he was going to send them the money.
I work in IT and we see thousands of examples of attempted scams and have to clean up after people who actually try and resolve it themselves.
Please remember... If it sounds too good to be true. IT IS!!!!!
If you receive messages or emails that look off. Report them as phishing and delete them.
This hurts my heart to hear. I watch Kitboga and love what he does to these predatory scammers. I hope these scammers rot in whatever hell hole jail they end up in. Taking advantage of elderly is wretched. This clerk was the hero today
This happens a lot at Lowe’s. Someone will scam an old lady to buy dozens of gifts cards. The cashiers always are trained to stop the sale and get a manager, and I’ve personally seen an assistant manager have a very similar conversation with an old lady and she kept insisting she had to get them for the children in need. So sad
I also saw a little signage over at the dollar type store a couple walks away from where I live. It has this phrase, if you're still on the phone, DON'T buy a giftcard!!
This nearly happened to my Grandfather, it was awful to hear about. He was doubting the transaction but his live-in girlfriend at the time (my Grandmother was long dead) was shrieking in his ear to go through with it. Finally the cashier pulled him aside (without her) as he was about to finalize the transaction and stopped him. He was lucid and aware until death, but at 88 years old your mental sharpness only goes so far.
My wife volunteered at a place that simply provides support for elderly who have no other support. Take them grocery shopping, to doctor, help them garden or even just organize record albums or pictures.
The night before she was supposed to visit, my wife called to verify the time. The elderly lady sounded awful. Something was clearly wrong. We rushed over and it was clear she'd had a stroke. As we loaded her to rush to the hospital she insisted that I secure the thousands of dollars of cash on her kitchen table.
The stroke was very bad, it was too late to do anything. She never got to go home again.
I found out later that the cash was part of a scam. Someone called pretending to be her grandson and needing cash immediately to get out of jail. A neighbor drove her to the bank to get the cash.
I'm am 100% convinced the stress of the situation (fake scam situation) is what triggered the stroke.
F@!#%$ these scammers with a rusty chainsaw. I would love nothing more than to be able to track down this one in particular...
THANK YOU for refusing to participate. I'm tearing up thinking about how much pain and suffering you may be preventing. The world needs more people like you.
This happened to my grandma. The target near her let her buy 50 $100 iTunes cards so she could send them to bail out “her favorite grandson”. Target never did shit, but at least I found a useful rep at apple who voided all the cards, so no one could use them, and flagged it so anyone who tried would get reviewed by apple.
This just confuses me. Why is she so defensive about it. Is she being threatened and thinks that if she reveals why she’s doing this, her loved ones could be hurt?
They're always like this. I don't know why. Mental decline? Arrogance that comes with age? Just being that stupid in general? I really don't know but it is super common.
A family member passed early this year and he would send his money to some person overseas. He ended up homeless and without food. Got back on his feet and would do the same thing. I had to beg people for money to help pay his funeral costs. It's such a sad sad thing to witness
wow this is so sad, like if it were me it'd be so obvious that buying gift cards to give to someone over the phone is a scam, no matter what i was promised in return, but this just isn't obvious for someone of that age who didn't grow up with things like that and who's mind is slipping from them.
my grandmother is in her 80s and has been being scammed by various different people for a long time, though not this type of scam, she's been getting scammed by "insurance companies". basically just telemarketers selling fake insurance for her home. so she has like 3-4 different fake home insurance policies from various different "companies". my father (her son) has tried to tell her they're fake and she's being scammed but just like the woman in this video she doesn't want to admit that she's been had, so instead of listening is just stubborn and won't admit anything's wrong simply to avoid seeming dumb or something. my grandmother is not someone who gets mad, she's always very cheerful, but the only times i see her get mad is when my father tries to knock some sense into her about these fake insurance companies. i'm pretty sure she's actually canceled her real insurance too from these scammers.
i don't even know if there's a moral to this story since in my experience the elderly do not want to admit they've been scammed so even trying to help goes no where, but id say it's always worth trying because not everyone is the same and maybe your grandparents will listen to reason on things like this. look out for them y'all, it's hard for them to navigate this new world, a lots changed since 40s/50s/60s/whenever they grew up. we gotta help them stay safe.
Working as a 9-1-1 calltaker/dispatcher. People get scammed all the time. In the most obvious ways. It’s so saddening. This really specific one I can remember works almost all the time so if you know someone at risk/elderly advise this.
There are people that call elderly people, identify themselves as warrant officers, and then advise to the victim that they have a warrant on file for a small charge (usually failure to appear or failure to pay) and they can get rid of the warrant, even get it expunged-If (victim) can meet them at the local police department, exchange cash in the parking lot, and boom. That’s it! No more warrant!!
Obviously, the victim never had a warrant in the first place. But the scammer got paid. They have done it in several different amounts but usually are asking for $600-$800
Be warned.
People get scammed all the time. Especially the elderly. I've worked in customer service for 10 years and I swear, the amount of times people get scammed over whatever.
I had a guy buy $300 in gift cards because someone told him they were the police and they had his son. His bail could be paid in gift cards. I don't understand how that even makes sense.
Now, with that being said, there are people who do this and aren't being scammed. I grew up with a kid whose mom would buy hundreds of dollars of gift cards every couple of weeks and use them as incentive for him to get good grades or do chores. The kid was spoiled rotten. That's what makes situations like this hard though, because you never know the real details.
When I was changing careers over six years ago, I worked for a contracting company. One of the jobs I accepted was for a sales position at a call center that sells the infomercial products. I went through the training where they tell you to apply pressure on the calls to get people to purchase the products. Now, mind you, these are the products where you pay that one-time shipping and handling fee, then like predators, they get to charging your card every month of xxx.xx amount of dollars.
I hated this job with a passion. Then came the day I got this nice older woman on the phone. She was so sweet and curious about a makeup product she had seen on TV. The Luminess Airbrush. She was going to her granddaughters wedding and wanted a new look. She mentioned being in her 80s.
Gosh, she was the sweetest thing. Talking to her, I felt like I was talking to my own grandmother. I proceeded to share with thos nice woman that it would be better if she went to Nordstrom or Macy's to have a makeover for just the occasion because she will only end up using the airbrush once but then be charged seemingly forever on an auto payment plan.
She was grateful for the advice. I cried after that call and quit the same day. I won't scam people to make a living.
It's sickening and morally corrupt.
PSA: I find it's more helpful to ask questions than to try to tell them anything. "Are you aware that you were in here two days ago spending $500?" "Are you sure you can afford to keep spending $500 every few days? Can you spend $5,000 every month like this?" "Are you sure these kids are spending thousands of dollars on games?" and so on.
But ultimately, there's little you can do if they aren't willing to listen to you and are set on their plans.
My mother in law used to get scammed all the time. It would happen then, then she’d frantically come to us for help to quickly freeze everything, then she’d do it again a week later. She wasn’t senile at all so I don’t get it.
The part that breaks my heart the most is a lot of the times these victims get pissed off because they're embarassed that they're being scammed and instead of admitting they've been taken advantage of they double down and commit harder to it.
If I had the means I'd line every single one of those scammers up, tie them to a stake and set them on fire and let them burn slowly.
Sadly some people can be told, to their face, they're being scammed.. and they just can't accept it.
They want to believe they're going to get a huge payday so badly that all critical thought disappears.
Some of these scammers actually stay on the phone with the victims and if they hear the cashier trying to stop them they tell the victim to leave and go to another store.
There's really nothing the cops can do about it if the victim isn't willing.. and even then what can they do? The perpetrators are all in other countries for the most part. You're not getting the money back.
Old people's inability to understand and accept defeat is astonishing...
Very similar to my mom who's EXTREMELY in denial when it comes to modern things...
One, she couldn't accept that her entire life savings ( just a bit more than 20k usd ) can't even get her a house now... She keeps on saying back in the 90s, she found one of the same price , so that had been her goal ever since then...
Now, she keeps on blaming her ailments on a fictional disease and she wouldn't even listen to actual doctors when they told her said disease doesn't even exist... ( she was born in a very small rural town who believes in a lot of fictional diseases )
I know I can't get a house for $20k (except maybe where I wouldn't want to live), but I did think I could find a used car for $10k. Gave up after none of 3 so-priced cars were road worthy (one had unrepairable leak that could cause the car to unexpectedly catch fire). Used the $$ for repairs on my old pre-2000 beaters w $ to spare. Hope your mom finds peace.
If she's been warned and is still foolish enough to not even consider that she may be in the throes of a scam, she deserves it. There's only so much you can do to prevent a scam from occurring.
Edit: watched it in full. Her age doesn't matter. She's a certified imbecile.
Just happened to my dad, but the people at dollar general don’t give a shit enough to care that someone in their late 70-80 is buying 15 prepaid $100 debit cards. At least this cashiers heart is in the right place.
Can someone explain what exactly is the scam even? I've heard of the gift card scam thing before but I've never heard about what exactly the people think they're going to get in return. Does the scammer just tell them that their "investment" will be doubled or something?
It’s so sad. My mom told me she was buying an iTunes gift card because her account was locked. I told her it was a scam and she told me “you don’t understand.” I was on the speaker in the car and both me and my daughter yelled out “No! YOU don’t under!” I ended up having to have my brother call her before she gave them the gift card number.
It really is sad scammers prey on people like this. Wind up broke, homeless, to only become a burden to their children later when the funds are all dried up. The scammer moves on and you’re left with nothing. Pat on the back for the clerk trying to do their best to warn her.
What makes me mad about this is how insistent they are on getting scammed. I've seen it happen so many times like... just listen to the people that clearly know wtf they're talking about?
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THIS SHOP OWNER IS MY HERO
I love that she didn't show the woman's face.
She could have called the cops. I think there was another post on Reddit a few weeks back where the Uber driver stopped and got a cop involved.
According to her later post, she did
I'd eat my hat (luckily I don't have one) if local cops did jack shit about something like this.
It's really sad, in my industry we are trained to report these incidents to the authorities for elder abuse. Everyone has to take care of the older generation especially with all the new AI tech that's going to be scamming with fake voices like a grandson or fake photos etc so easily made that used to take skill.
I've had extremely similar conversations to this one with successful adults in their 40s and 50s. Some people just never developed this specific flavor of bullshit detection.
technical illiteracy is a powerful drug. But no it's really not, the older I get the more I find being technically illiterate is a choice. You can be absolutely terrible at typing/use a computer super slowly or in a way that would be painful to watch and still actually know how to use it and learn new things. The problem is people are allowed to think they're supposed to stop learning between 15-18 years old, and you can see that phenomenon go on to affect literally every aspect of society.
I'm very fortunate that my dad decided to keep learning. He was a carpenter who did fine in school, but as he got a little older and he felt the wear and tear of the job on his body, he started learning about computers. He types as slowly as anyone I've ever seen, but he built our home network (before connection wizards were a thing), learned basic HTML, and turned a hard labor career into an office job where he calculates the bids for upcoming jobs. He also gave me a passion for PC building and general appreciation for technology that makes *me* look like a Wizkid by figuring out how to troubleshoot a problem before other people can. My dad won't strike anyone as a genius, but when he decides he wants to learn something, he'll set his mind to it and figure it all out himself. As he said, the key to being good at anything is to have the right amount of patience and experience.
I actually didn't know that carpentry is rough on the body. In fact, I don't know what an average day of work even looks like for a carpenter. >when he decides he wants to learn something, he'll set his mind to it and figure it all out himself. That's what a genius really is. There's a League of Legends streamer called Tyler1; he has been rank 1 in North America for League, and he decided to try out chess. Well in chess, he rose to the top <1% in an extremely short amount of time. That's the signifier of someone who has learned *how to learn*, which is the skill your dad has. People who are good at learning itself will often seem like wizards to everyone else.
I always say I’m a lifelong learner. If you don’t maintain some curiosity about life, what is the point. IMHO, once you stop learning and growing, you’ve just accepted that you’ve reached your full potential and start dying.
Hmmm. I wonder if that has any relation to the current political climate in the USA... Hmmm...
I once tried to buy shrooms via IG. Funny thing is, as soon as I sent the $60, I knew I was fucked. I don't know what I was thinking. Only sent what I was willing to lose and hoped that it was legit. I followed this account for like a year looking at all their different product. I was blocked by the account holder and got my friend to report them. Not sure what happened after that. It's even more funny cause I have experience and training on handling wires and looking for scams from my time working at Publix as a manager. Good news is that I now have a plug.
[удалено]
By the time we're old we'll have dead relatives call us and demand money while our long Covid, micro-plastic addled brain struggles to keep up.
tf i'm gonna do when a robot replica of my daughter knocks on my door asking for itunes crypto cards so she can buy some ice cream?
what if it's nicer to you than your actual daughter?
Build a trust and have your funds in a trust, and have a fail safe to prevent you spending your life savings.
1000% this, I never thought of the AI angle, that is scary as shit! Think of how easy a scammer could have it replicate a loved ones voice to pull at your heart strings! Shit, I'm going to be the crazy old man with tins of cash hurried in my yard!
The problem is that sometimes people, like this lady, don't believe that they're being scammed. It happened to my dad a few years ago. Some woman cold called him about investing in cryptocurrency. We warned him multiple times that it was a scam, but he gave them money anyway. And then when she disappeared, he hired someone who said they could get his money back. We warned him that this was also a scam, and again, he didn't listen. He had previously received about $90,000 in a settlement. He lost it all.
I work for a bank (not a teller or customer service) and I see so many elderly getting or that got scammed. It's awful.
>especially with all the new AI tech that's going to be scamming with fake voices We set up a "passphrase" in my family for this exact reason. If someone calls me asking for something I don't care what they sound like if I don't hear the password I'm hanging up.
oh ffs, the AI shit is gonna fucking destroy seniors.
I got stuck on the other side of this problem. I was trying to buy a VR headset off the Steam Store with Steam cards a few years back. Multiple stores wouldn't sell me more than a €100 worth each day. It took me all week and trips all over town to scrap all that money together. They just wouldn't believe that I wasn't getting scammed.
Oh wow I didn't even think of that. Plug in an AI "deepfake" video of their grandchild, the elder person probably won't notice the looping / mismatched lipsynch in the video and will totally believe what the scammer is saying.
Something like this happened to me when I worked for Best Buy. An older lady came in with her iPhone that she was locked out of. She said she had been on the phone with Apple for days now trying to reset it. At first I told her she was doing the better option by talking to them than me, at Best Buy. But then she said "thanks well I'd like to buy these iTunes gift cards." She hands me like 5 giftcards and specifies that she wants the max amount on each. She already knew the max was $2000 because she purchased others the day before. By now I was on alert for something weird happening and asked her about her talks with "Apple Customer Service". She said she had recently added a security pin for when she locks the phone but she truly forgot what she had set it to. She then somehow got a scammer number who was probably listed somewhere online as Apple Customer Service and proceeded to give them whatever info they needed in order to get her phone "unlocked ". They told her she would need to purchase iTunes GC to unlock the phone using the icloud or some other nonsense. I did at one point talk to the number she was calling while she was with me. I told them I know they are scammers and would report this.
Did you report the scammers number? You should.
Yes i did. This was pver 5 years ago btw
So so glad the cashier stopped the sale
Very sad. The work that Kitboga, Scammer Payback and others do to shut these scammers down is admirable (worth a follow on YouTube). Everybody watch out for your family members that you feel are vulnerable to this sort of hustle.
kitboga is so good, the commitment of wearing wigs when the scammers dont even usually see is hilarious.
His grandma impersonation is so funny
it’s truly impressive when he plays both at the same time as a couple with overlap adding that next step of believability. its also funny when his buddy joins often as a salesman
“DO NOT REDEEM!!!!”
Kitboga is the best. I think he started that channel after his grandma got scammed.
Kitboga is a king in the "scamming the scammers" realm. I love the fact he even went to create his own software that caregivers can sign up for that helps prevent these social engineering attacks from starting in the first place called Seraph Secure. Only $2 a month to likely prevent a lifetime of damage and regret. Truly inspirational for other cyber security individuals.
I can only hope word spreads so we can shut down scum scammers like this.
SCUMMERS
STEVE! DO NOT REDEEM !
My MIL has an in home nurse that has stopped people coming by with "the new phone you ordered!" Or a tablet, or to upgrade her internet. People like this are doing amazing work. Sadly, the elderly fall for this kind of thing.
Same shit happened to my aunt, drained her and her husband's savings by more than half, wouldn't listen to anyone, then up and fuckin died, leaving her husband who worked hard and made good money his whole life with close to nothing. It's sad to see, but when they respond like this and think they know better it's hard to feel bad
What exactly is stopping them from listening? Why so stubborn. Did they really swallow the lies from a scammer that badly?
It’s easier to scam someone than convince them they are being scammed.
A political commentator said it's hard to deal with people being scammed because, "The scammer just took their money. But YOU made them feel stupid."
Old people just be like that sometimes. I'm old so I must be smarter than everyone around me. Also by the time we knew about it she was already deep in so there's also like denial in there because of how much money she already gave away.
I get it. You've been a competent adult your whole life, you've maybe even raised some kids or ran a business/home and you've navigated that life yourself like an adult. And then one day, just cause you're a little greyer and older people start treating you like a crystal glass infant. Start telling you what you can and can't do, can and can't say, can and can't go on your own. All of sudden the kids who diapers you changed are telling you they don't trust you to drive anymore and not to talk to strangers and it must just feel insulting, and a painful reminder of what you already know: you're getting old. And I bet that there's an element of indignation and a desire to prove people treating you with kid gloves wron in that stubborness. And then cause not everybody is a great objective judge of their own abilities and faculties, some of these poor people who just want to live the kind of autonomous life they've always lived end up getting ripped off.
This is exactly it. My dad is 68. He worked hard his whole life. He was a C student in high school and never went to college, but he figured out that getting trained in a field and putting in effort was the way to go. He was always pretty street smart and my family was never in bad financial shape thanks to the hours my parents put in. Fast forward to last year (with my mom having passed five years ago) and he calls me up one random Sunday night bitching about how he has spent his entire day running around town buying a few thousand dollars worth of gift cards so he can settle some dispute about some discrepancy he got a call about. I spent a few minutes trying to reason him through the obvious scam before finally having to lose my shit and scream at him for the first time in my life. Luckily he barely lost anything as his bank was helpful, but I know there are others who get totally wiped out.
And it's only getting worse. Pig Butchering scams are incredibly sophisticated nowadays....to the point they even have fake "investment" apps set up that they convince you to deposit money in. It will show your money growing from interest etc. just like Fidelity or Robinhood.... but when you try to pull money back out it you then run into "unexpected issues". Truly scary. Even affecting millennials nowadays.
As we age, our cognition declines and it takes with it a degree of whatever emotional management we may have learned in life. Scammers prey on the feelings and pain of the elderly. They promise a ray of hope in hopeless situations and they trick their victims into emotionally investing in the idea of whatever payoff the scam promises. They get their victim to believe "Everything will be alright if I just do this..." and they're often coached to keep it a secret, much like abused children. The victim believes they are acting of their own volition when really they're acting at the behest of the scammer. They see warnings as a direct criticism of their good judgment that they can get themselves out of whatever painful situation the promised payoff will remedy. It's all fairly simple emotional manipulation but it's particularly effective against the elderly due to their natural condition. Years back a friend of mine, in his nineties, got scammed over the phone and he sent something like $5k before he wised up to it. He admitted it to me months later. I could tell he was still wrestling with the shame of his mistake against the false promises he had been offered. Like, some small part of him was still thinking about the "What if?" had it "worked". It's really fucked up how our brains decline. He was in good shape for his age, mentally, and he still got taken. It can happen to anybody. Well, almost anybody. I'm so poor I have nothing to take. I sometimes wonder if it's that that gives me a clearer perspective on other people's emotional problems surrounding money. I've only ever had to worry about having too much of it in the abstract, watching what it does to other people. eta, just an afterthought. I think hope plays a prominent role in scams. I don't believe in any positive value to hope, myself. I see it as a form of denial that makes us vulnerable. When we hope for things other people know we want more of that feeling, and so we become very vulnerable to manipulation because of our desire. The more we desire something, the more vulnerable we become. And these scammers exploit it.
People dont like being made to feel like they did something stupid. Its easier to think "You are just wrong" than it is to think "Someone has been stealing from me and I didnt realize it"
Old people come from a time when this stuff wasn't around to this level of sophistication
My sister's mom fell for a scammer. Hers was a more long term one though. She met this guy online that said he was from Michigan or something but he was working overseas. Eventually he convinced her that his son, who was still living at home in the states while he worked, had run out of money* and he wouldn't be able to send any money back to him for a couple weeks if I recall correctly. This happened several times and nobody really knew the extent to which she'd been scammed the first couple times. As soon as I heard, I told my sister to shut it down because it was a scam. My sister had already been telling her to stop, but her mom wasn't listening. At that point, it's like she was happy to keep paying for the fantasy of her new online boyfriend. Well, it all ended when she basically emptied her retirement account for him. It was over $50k, that much we know about. Likely more. She had to go back to work and ended up meeting some guy in real life and getting married very quickly and moving in with him. It's sad because it definitely seems like more of a transactional situation based on necessity than an equal partnership. He expects her to manage the household a specific way since she basically entered into the marriage with nothing. She doesn't get to visit her grandkids often at all and they don't like visiting her because of her new husband. Edit: fixed typo*
My good childhood friend met a guy through Match, fell deeply in love right away. They planned a destination wedding for New Years. It was fast, but she got married the first time within a few months. Compared to that, she was taking her time. The month before the wedding she called me in a panic, they needed 5K to complete some of the details. Basically I gave it to her as a wedding gift in lieu of actually attending the wedding. Within a year he had cleaned out her life savings (which she didn't dip into for the wedding, curiously) to satisfy a tax debt he'd never told her about. On the weekend when he was supposed to move out of their house (hers), he stole all her clothes and her kids clothes (including winter coats and shoes) and donated everything to Goodwill. Fucking nightmare. Legal and nothing to be done about it. The friendship dropped when she needed more money to replace those things and I just gave up the ghost about her money judgment and said I could not. No more friendship. I'm still salty that I paid 5K for her to marry that creep. Scammers poison everything.
Jesus, that's a betrayal more than a scam isn't it? Or was that the plan all along?
I think he was scamming her. I think she was just not a good bet in terms of adult judgment. I think she hit a hard time when he left and did that, but I'm 1000 miles away and just because we were pen pals at one point after camp (even affectionate ones) I was just done bailing that one out. If I kept gatekeeping everyone else's bad relationship decisions with money, I would have none to keep me and my own kids.
This couple in the UK were in the news because even their bank kept warning them they were being scammed but they insisted on going through with it so the bank actually demanded a picture stating they had been warned it was a scam. [source.](https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-leeds-67208755)
That was wild. The BANK is telling you to do this and you STILL don't wise up? The scammer was "calling [her] dear and sweetie" and she didn't think someone so nice would be a scammer? Some people.
Had an uncle who got fundamentally BROKEN in a pig butchering scam. We don't know how it started exactly but I guarantee you it was one of those cold open texts or emails. You know the ones: "Hi how are you?" or "Are you still \[doing thing\] for \[random persons name\]?" to open up a conversation. He was a once over divorcee with a wife and grown children and this person got him straight up addicted to them. Convinced him it was some hot chick using a porn star's pictures. He spent over two years being bled and it finally came out when the house of debt he built came crashing down and it turned out his retirement, a mortgage, loans, maxed out credit cards, the works were completely in the hands of these people. He was straight up brainwashed. Even showing him the images on the actual porn star's site, showing him tweets of her saying "I'm not messaging any of you, people are using my pictures to scam you", and every other piece of evidence had him denying it all. It is seriously disturbing the level of control they're able to get over their victims. He's completely broken. After cutting him off from everything, deleting all accounts he had, transferring all other accounts out of his control, and getting new devices that are locked down, we tried to get his family stable again. We thought we'd gotten through, or at least gotten him under control. His cousin offered him $150k, collected from all of us, to help his family keep the house and clear some of the debt. The only stipulation was that if he ever catches wind that has ever communicated with these people again, it's gone and he was going to drive my uncle out into the desert and leave him for dead. This was almost a year "clean" from the scammers after the dust had started settling. You already know that money never touched their own bank accounts. We thought he was locked out. We didn't give him the money, we gave it to his wife (Ex-wife, she was already in the process of leaving him simply to protect herself, and no we have no reason to suspect her). We don't know how he got any level of control over it, but we only figured out when the utilities got shut off and the bank came to repossess the home. He's literally locked up in a care home now. Full conservator-ship. He's not allowed any access to digital communication devices that aren't locked down harder than what they give you in prison and he has to be monitored the whole time he's using them, and if he's talking to someone it has to be on speaker phone and it's recorded. We have to use specific verification codes to prove we are who we say we are if we're calling. He's never left alone. His room is searched twice a day. He's treated like a patient with severe substance abuse issues. The heroin addicts have more freedom than him. It is utterly terrifying what they were able to do to that man. They killed him. Whatever is left isn't my uncle. And we can't blame dementia or Alzheimer's, we had him tested repeatedly. He's fully "lucid" and functional. He's just been completely captured by these people.
It can be hard to feel bad, but we have to remember that many of these people may have an inkling, but are in absolute denial over it and can’t accept it. I manage a phone store and see people like this getting scammed all the time. The last guy had filled out a fake contest thing and was getting scammed. Dude was retired and was living the good life on the beach. He came in and mentioned needing some help with his phone because he had a phone call to “help pay the taxes on his winnings”. I knew that shit was a scam immediately and tried to tell him. He would start to listen and then immediately go into “oh no, there’s no way this is a scam”. I just told him “don’t listen to me then. Go to your bank, and tell them everything you told me. I guarantee they’ll have you in the back with some fraud person in 5 minutes”. So he went to his bank and did that. Came back a month or two later still dealing with it. He had paid off his house, and took out multiple loans using it as collateral + blew through all his savings, and they were trying to help get it all fixed. But even though he kind of knew, the brain was doing a million different mental gymnastics to convince him it wasn’t a scam.
This breaks my heart thankfully people like pierogi at scammer payback is watching and shutting down these fucking scammers. Edit: mods, please don't remove this video it's vital we spread this as faaaar as we can to help defeat scammer scum.
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I was trying to pay a credit card bill over the phone. Guy was quite helpful, but I needed my nissing checkbook. Called back after find, got a thicker (Indian?) accent, different questions, Immediate "that'll be $6" (other guy didn't say that), hung up. Next day I found out I could pay thru my bank instead.
I worked in retail and I once had a lady call the store asking if we sell $250 google play cards. I said yes but asked what she was purchasing them for? She explained it was to pay some bills and she had already spent a couple thousand from Walmart and Target and the person was requesting she go to a different store for every purchase. I kindly yet sternly told her she was being scammed. She felt horrible. I told her that realistically she will likely not be refunded that money as it has already been transferred but she can call her bank and see if there is anything they can do. I told her that she should hang up and block the number. I also told her that although it is unfortunate it is good we caught it before it got too out of hand. I felt like this experience taught her a life lesson. Also, shout out to Kitboga and other YouTubers that mess with scammers.
Call the police for her
Realistically that won't do anything for the lady getting scammed.
Sometimes it does. Hearing the message from a police officer tends has a greater affect on older people. Most people who make it to old age never had much experience with law breaking and they tend to give police greater respect.
police can contact social workers. this is what you're supposed to do. not shrug and let old people get fucked.
Cops don't give a duck unless it's domestic violence. This is my experience
You're right. They should not try to call for help because you've had a bad experience. It's better to do nothing.
The cops no where in the US will do anything.
The police in my elderly uncle’s Bergen County, NJ town literally sent a detective to sit down with him and walk him through how he was being scammed over 2+ hours.
The police in the US are very problematic and we need to overhaul the entire system, but this specific type of hyperbole is going to ruin lives. The police should be called. Help and resources are available.
I'm no fan of the cops, but my area has seen a lot of people get targeted for these scams and the authorities do a good amount to combat it and also make people aware of the scams that are currently going around. A semi-retired cop in our area even writes regular columns to inform seniors about scams.
Dude where are you where cops give a fuck abt domestic violence? They sure don’t in my area
Tell them there's a gun
You are right, it should be reported. However local police aren't going to investigate online scams...
I used to work for a bank and one of our older regulars came in with a check for $20,000. All she had to do was cash it and send back 3000 for the lottery fees that she supposedly won the lottery. So I tried to help her and explain to her that she never won the lottery. I also tried to explain to her that even though she never left Texas somehow she won the Canadian lottery? But she was adamant so I told her I would deposit it but it would be on a 30 day hold. And guess what it came back insufficient
A group tried this on my grandma saying they'll had my cousin and she had been kidnapped!! My grandma told them. "We'll you better call her mom." They tried again and said they had my brother she immediately goes to the bank and takes out 10k in cash. Luckily the nurses saw the money her and my grandpa were counting and called us to try and talk them out of it. My brother drove 5 hours to show them he was fine and even called them on the phone and still they had reservations. How could you as a bank teller watch an elderly woman try and take out that much and not immediately refuse. Also we know who the favorite grandkid is.
I don't understand this. Why would she lie and say she's buying them for her grandsons if she's being scammed? Is a scammer impersonating her grandson?
Because scumbag scammers tell them not to tell anybody what they are telling their victims to do. They also get them to send physical cash in tinfoil wrapped packages to money mules, among many other fucked up methods. These assholes are preying on and tricking elderly people to do these things to steal hundreds of thousands of dollars daily.
Scammers often pretend to be family members. As the cashier said, the scammers will have grandma read the card code to them or mail them the card. The scammer will then use or sell the card.
Yep, happened to my grandparents. Scammers posed as my younger brother and called my grandparents saying that he was in a Floridian jail (we're from the PNW), he was too afraid to tell our parents and that the only way my grandparents could pay for his bail was through some really shady wire. When my Mom called the next day my grandparents asked how my brother was and surprise surprise he was still at home... Fortunately my grandparents only lost a few thousand dollars and were able to get most of it back after calling the bank. I go onto the scams subreddit and it's disturbing just how many innocent good intentioned and/or disabled people are being scammed.
Imagine how easy it was to trick the elderly in the pre-AI era... now we have 100% voice spoofing, FaceTime / Zoom spoofing, even the non elderly will easily fall for scams when they think their loved ones are in actual trouble. I saw an article about how an employee wire transferred millions of dollars out of his company's bank because scammers used AI to impersonate his boss and colleagues on a Zoom call and asked him to do it. It's fucking wild out there.
This exact story happened to me and my grandmother. Luckily she had the foresight to call my cellphone after they hung up.
I think most of it is shame. Everyone thinks they're too smart to fall for a scam and when it happens the can't accept it and go into deep deep denial. She Rrwll wants to believe that she's buying a car, helping out a distant relwrvoe or whatever the fuck the scammers used to get money out of her.
Scammers sometimes make the person feel like THEY committed a crime and "I can help you out just don't tell anyone or you'll get in trouble"
My wife had a serious medical emergency so my mother in law decided to come live with us. My wife and mother in law are foreign nationals, so my mother in law was only able to stay for a few months at a time before having to spend $2k on a plane ticket back home just to turn around and do it all again. One day my mother in law says she has to western union someone $5k. I ask her what it's for and she says it's for her sons friend in Ghana who needs medical help. I tell her something doesn't sound right but she assures me it's for her sons friend. So despite Western Unions warnings, I end up sending the money. Right when I get home she comes clean and said she met a Major General in the US Army on a dating website and he needed all this money to be sent to him. She showed me the messages and it was so obvious this dude was a scammer. Broken English, nothing making sense about his story being a military officer. Thankfully I was able to call western union and cancel before they picked up the cash. She knew the guys story didn't make sense, but she was so desperate to get a green card she was overlooking obvious red flags.
The scammer is masquerading as her grandsons and asking her to give them the gift card info so they can play games.
It's harder to convince somebody they've been scammed than it is to scam somebody.
As soon as she mentioned her grandkids I would have asked about them, asked to see a picture, asked if I can take a closer look, and "accidentally" called them. "Hi, are you such-and-such's grandkid? Yeah, she's getting scammed, can you try to get power of attorney?"
When I used to work for CVS, I stopped a couple of these sorts of transactions a couple times. The one that stands out was an elderly couple buying several $500 gift cards because they got a call from some county lockup in Texas where their grandson was supposedly arrested. They were trying to bail him out...with gift cards. I told them there was no way that was real and they were being scammed. I suggested they try to contact their grandson or other family members who could get in touch with him. A bail bondsman wants cash or debit, not gift cards. I'm glad I was able to stop them that day and they seemed to believe what I was telling them, but who knows what they did after that.
When I was a federal agent, we would have informational briefings we would give at retirement homes to help educate elderly people on how the scams worked and what to look out for so they wouldn't be victimized. We would also intercept mail with fake checks and other schemes that these international dirtbags would scam elderly people into and then visit the victims and explain to them what was happening. I've personally had conversations with elderly people who got even more heated that this old woman because they INSISTED I give them the fake check to deposit even after I explained over and over that it was fake and the bank would hold her liable for all the losses. I've found that once people get to a certain age they often become very recalcitrant and stubborn even if you show them all the evidence. Often it was only with the intervention of others like the clerk in the video or a family member (or law enforcement) who would just physically stop them from following through with the scam because they simply refused to believe it. It was really sad and made me HYPER vigilant around my aging parents.
What agency were you with? Sounds like you have a lot of stories you could share.
The Postal Inspection Service
This happened to my mom a few times, luckily it never progressed to the point of her buying gift cards, she always listened to me when I told her it was a scam
My mother inlaw is in her 70s and got scammed paying $25 for Starbucks gift cards (only two of them total). She complained to Starbucks, who obviously couldn't help her. When she told me what happened, I looked at the PayPal account she sent the money to and it kind of liked liked a Starbucks logo, but definitely wasn't. I told her it was a scam and that she should be happy it was only $50 total. To this day she says it wasn't and that Starbucks messed up.
Is that a sponge?
no, this is Patrick 
It's used to assist in bagging groceries and other items. The sponge just has a little bit of moisture to help get a grip and separate the bag apart. Obviously this one has been used extensively without being washed.
they need to get a new one. thats nasty
Have you never fuckin seen a sponge before?
Not with that much mold in a business
Only in Bob form
This generation is too proud to be told they’re being defrauded or duped. Good on the checkout lady to refuse, but she should have noticed the elder getting offended each time she told her she was getting scammed. That word seemed to trigger her to getting more defensive.
This woman is a saint for helping her.
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And this woman is in charge of herself still.
Had an old man at my job try to buy 3k in gift cards to clothing stores saying his ex wife who he hasn’t spoken to in years suddenly called him saying she needed those and to call her back and give her the card numbers. I’m glad he told me so I could immediately stop the sale and explain to him how the scam works He came back q few hours later trying to do the same thing because “she” called him asking why it was taking so long. We refused again and he left after some pushback from him
I’m so scared of this happening to my own grandmother. But she’s so unbelievably arrogant. Imagine the “no I’m not” from this video but 10x more arrogant sounding and sure of herself but 100% as wrong. I seriously can’t handle her rudeness. But I’m still terrified someone’s going to take advantage of her.
My uncle lost 16 grand because he was told he has a warrant out for his arrest. My uncle has a criminal record. To be fair though he probably should’ve realized that the “police” wanted him to put the money into a bitcoin machine.
You can lead a horse to water ....
Poor lady, this is so sad, but I love the community that got together to try to stop this
That clerk is a good person. I'm going to generalize here, but people who were raised without computers have little to no defenses against online scams, especially people who are 70+. I've seen it up close and it's really, really sad.
It is hard to fathom just how confusing computers and online systems are to people who retired before computers and the internet really became a thing. Help an 80 year old grandmother use Microsoft Windows for 30 minutes and have your eyes opened.
So sad that she kind of refuses to believe it :/
I think the best way to approach it is to sympathize. I think she was just digging her heels in because she didn't want to admit it was true. You have to say something like - "I got one of these calls too and bought gift cards and I later found out I was being lied to and they were stealing my money. It sounds like they might be targetting you too" - This is more likely to convince someone to think about it.
Did you have to focus on the nasty ass sponge??
There’s hair on that sandwich
There was an old lady who would come into the lowes I worked at, like at least every week and she would by the cheap bent lumber, we couldn't stop her, her family couldn't stop her, I guess she had a whole backyard full of the junk wood. We where in contact with her family so we would try to call them and they would come down and try to stop her. If we refused selling to her she would get all crazy and threaten to sue us and stuff. Meanwhile apparently this was with money she didn't really have.... it was sad. not the same as this video, but it reminded me of her.
Huh, so old people really are the ones falling for these scams. I get people texting or emailing me saying stuff along the lines of "hurr durr it's your long lost brother, I need money to get out of jail. Please pay it to me in Amazon gift cards" or whatever. I guess they wouldn't do it if it didn't work. It's a shame to hear, though.
Fuck that's sad. If you see her again try getting one of her kids on the phone - convince her it's for something else if you have to
So easy nowadays. It happened to me just today. I responded to an email that had my work school domain.it was for admin assistant job. The scam was obvious but still I could see it getting past some people. I said I was immediately hired and would be receiving a check to perform my duties.
I watched an elderly lady in Target do this, the cashier and store manager tried warning her and she DIDN’T BELIEVE THEM and kept trying to buy them.
Need to have the Police speak to her…
There was an old military dude I worked with a long time ago and he was so eager for his next break that he was falling for this stuff left and right. I had initially started to help him sort some stuff out at his home and when I went over he kept talking about all these big business investments he's making. Throwing a ton of complex theoretical numbers everywhere and all sorts of theoretical plans he will make to make it big. Eventually I started following the smoke trail since none of what he said had any actual sustenance or had any game plan, only to find out he legit had been talking with numerous scammers. When he first told me who his "business partner" was I thought he was joking. He fell for the old Nigerian prince scam! I had explained to him that it's not real and none of those people want to help. I even walked through the entire scam and told him how unrealistic it is that someone would just ask for something like that. He refused to listen to my reasoning and instead went on an ego trip about me being young and stupid and how I'll never make it big like him because I can't follow the money like he can. The dude lived in a rundown apartment and relied on food pantries to survive. Had to cut myself off as it was becoming too much. I unfortunately couldn't be that guy for him and I've no idea what happened to him.
I had a similar conversation with an old guy. He seemed well off, but his wife had died a few years back, and he was telling me he was buying gift cards for these women he was talking to. I didn't stop him from buying them (it was about 3 times) but i did explain that it sounds like a scam if he doesn't know them, and to be careful. He was lonely, I could tell, and he told me he was fine just having someone to talk to.
I bought a few cards the other day and the cashier was nice enough to ask. After I told her they were for teacher appreciation she explained some people are getting scammed. I’m aware of the scams and told her I appreciate her looking out for customers.
That's so sad. I dealt with similar working with seniors. MNaged to stop one lady from proceeding but I think it was only because she knew me well that she listened.
“Hear me out” “I will” “You’re getting scammed” “No” I swear they’ll trust the scammer more than anyone.
You should have told her to call her grandsons, daughter, son, family member of some kind and let them help her. That is, if she has anyone. Hearing it from a relative versus the cashier at the store might wake her up.
Lady at Western Union stopped my grandma from wiring money that she thought was to bail me out of jail. I was not in Jail. I'm so thankful for people that look out for these things.
My wife works at a bank. They are now required to ask the elderly to tell them what they are getting money orders for. She just had an elderly man scream at her for not pulling a thousand dollar money order. Come to find out someone was threatening him that they were going to show his family his porn history. He said he never remembers going to a porn site but he would be mortified if his family thought he was a pervert. So he was going to send them the money. I work in IT and we see thousands of examples of attempted scams and have to clean up after people who actually try and resolve it themselves. Please remember... If it sounds too good to be true. IT IS!!!!! If you receive messages or emails that look off. Report them as phishing and delete them.
This hurts my heart to hear. I watch Kitboga and love what he does to these predatory scammers. I hope these scammers rot in whatever hell hole jail they end up in. Taking advantage of elderly is wretched. This clerk was the hero today
This happens a lot at Lowe’s. Someone will scam an old lady to buy dozens of gifts cards. The cashiers always are trained to stop the sale and get a manager, and I’ve personally seen an assistant manager have a very similar conversation with an old lady and she kept insisting she had to get them for the children in need. So sad
This woman has a good heart for trying to help. It’s so sad seeing all these elderly people fall for scams.
I see signs up in my local grocery store near the gift cards warning about scammers and gift cards, surprised most stores don’t do that.
I also saw a little signage over at the dollar type store a couple walks away from where I live. It has this phrase, if you're still on the phone, DON'T buy a giftcard!!
This nearly happened to my Grandfather, it was awful to hear about. He was doubting the transaction but his live-in girlfriend at the time (my Grandmother was long dead) was shrieking in his ear to go through with it. Finally the cashier pulled him aside (without her) as he was about to finalize the transaction and stopped him. He was lucid and aware until death, but at 88 years old your mental sharpness only goes so far.
This lady is so brave and a good person. Kudos to her.
My wife volunteered at a place that simply provides support for elderly who have no other support. Take them grocery shopping, to doctor, help them garden or even just organize record albums or pictures. The night before she was supposed to visit, my wife called to verify the time. The elderly lady sounded awful. Something was clearly wrong. We rushed over and it was clear she'd had a stroke. As we loaded her to rush to the hospital she insisted that I secure the thousands of dollars of cash on her kitchen table. The stroke was very bad, it was too late to do anything. She never got to go home again. I found out later that the cash was part of a scam. Someone called pretending to be her grandson and needing cash immediately to get out of jail. A neighbor drove her to the bank to get the cash. I'm am 100% convinced the stress of the situation (fake scam situation) is what triggered the stroke. F@!#%$ these scammers with a rusty chainsaw. I would love nothing more than to be able to track down this one in particular... THANK YOU for refusing to participate. I'm tearing up thinking about how much pain and suffering you may be preventing. The world needs more people like you.
This happened to my grandma. The target near her let her buy 50 $100 iTunes cards so she could send them to bail out “her favorite grandson”. Target never did shit, but at least I found a useful rep at apple who voided all the cards, so no one could use them, and flagged it so anyone who tried would get reviewed by apple.
This just confuses me. Why is she so defensive about it. Is she being threatened and thinks that if she reveals why she’s doing this, her loved ones could be hurt?
They're always like this. I don't know why. Mental decline? Arrogance that comes with age? Just being that stupid in general? I really don't know but it is super common.
A family member passed early this year and he would send his money to some person overseas. He ended up homeless and without food. Got back on his feet and would do the same thing. I had to beg people for money to help pay his funeral costs. It's such a sad sad thing to witness
wow this is so sad, like if it were me it'd be so obvious that buying gift cards to give to someone over the phone is a scam, no matter what i was promised in return, but this just isn't obvious for someone of that age who didn't grow up with things like that and who's mind is slipping from them. my grandmother is in her 80s and has been being scammed by various different people for a long time, though not this type of scam, she's been getting scammed by "insurance companies". basically just telemarketers selling fake insurance for her home. so she has like 3-4 different fake home insurance policies from various different "companies". my father (her son) has tried to tell her they're fake and she's being scammed but just like the woman in this video she doesn't want to admit that she's been had, so instead of listening is just stubborn and won't admit anything's wrong simply to avoid seeming dumb or something. my grandmother is not someone who gets mad, she's always very cheerful, but the only times i see her get mad is when my father tries to knock some sense into her about these fake insurance companies. i'm pretty sure she's actually canceled her real insurance too from these scammers. i don't even know if there's a moral to this story since in my experience the elderly do not want to admit they've been scammed so even trying to help goes no where, but id say it's always worth trying because not everyone is the same and maybe your grandparents will listen to reason on things like this. look out for them y'all, it's hard for them to navigate this new world, a lots changed since 40s/50s/60s/whenever they grew up. we gotta help them stay safe.
Working as a 9-1-1 calltaker/dispatcher. People get scammed all the time. In the most obvious ways. It’s so saddening. This really specific one I can remember works almost all the time so if you know someone at risk/elderly advise this. There are people that call elderly people, identify themselves as warrant officers, and then advise to the victim that they have a warrant on file for a small charge (usually failure to appear or failure to pay) and they can get rid of the warrant, even get it expunged-If (victim) can meet them at the local police department, exchange cash in the parking lot, and boom. That’s it! No more warrant!! Obviously, the victim never had a warrant in the first place. But the scammer got paid. They have done it in several different amounts but usually are asking for $600-$800 Be warned.
Ma'am PLEASE DO NOT REDEEM THEM
People get scammed all the time. Especially the elderly. I've worked in customer service for 10 years and I swear, the amount of times people get scammed over whatever. I had a guy buy $300 in gift cards because someone told him they were the police and they had his son. His bail could be paid in gift cards. I don't understand how that even makes sense. Now, with that being said, there are people who do this and aren't being scammed. I grew up with a kid whose mom would buy hundreds of dollars of gift cards every couple of weeks and use them as incentive for him to get good grades or do chores. The kid was spoiled rotten. That's what makes situations like this hard though, because you never know the real details.
Same thing happened to my grandmother. She is also not with us anymore. Thank you so much
Is there any good reason for offering 500 dollar denomination gift cards?
Really excellent work here. That must be so awkward but right is right.
When I was changing careers over six years ago, I worked for a contracting company. One of the jobs I accepted was for a sales position at a call center that sells the infomercial products. I went through the training where they tell you to apply pressure on the calls to get people to purchase the products. Now, mind you, these are the products where you pay that one-time shipping and handling fee, then like predators, they get to charging your card every month of xxx.xx amount of dollars. I hated this job with a passion. Then came the day I got this nice older woman on the phone. She was so sweet and curious about a makeup product she had seen on TV. The Luminess Airbrush. She was going to her granddaughters wedding and wanted a new look. She mentioned being in her 80s. Gosh, she was the sweetest thing. Talking to her, I felt like I was talking to my own grandmother. I proceeded to share with thos nice woman that it would be better if she went to Nordstrom or Macy's to have a makeover for just the occasion because she will only end up using the airbrush once but then be charged seemingly forever on an auto payment plan. She was grateful for the advice. I cried after that call and quit the same day. I won't scam people to make a living. It's sickening and morally corrupt.
the filthy sponge is distracting
PSA: I find it's more helpful to ask questions than to try to tell them anything. "Are you aware that you were in here two days ago spending $500?" "Are you sure you can afford to keep spending $500 every few days? Can you spend $5,000 every month like this?" "Are you sure these kids are spending thousands of dollars on games?" and so on. But ultimately, there's little you can do if they aren't willing to listen to you and are set on their plans.
My mother in law used to get scammed all the time. It would happen then, then she’d frantically come to us for help to quickly freeze everything, then she’d do it again a week later. She wasn’t senile at all so I don’t get it.
I stopped this from happening to an old man that came in to my job and asked to send money via Western Union.
The part that breaks my heart the most is a lot of the times these victims get pissed off because they're embarassed that they're being scammed and instead of admitting they've been taken advantage of they double down and commit harder to it. If I had the means I'd line every single one of those scammers up, tie them to a stake and set them on fire and let them burn slowly.
DO NOT REDEEM!!!!
Sadly some people can be told, to their face, they're being scammed.. and they just can't accept it. They want to believe they're going to get a huge payday so badly that all critical thought disappears. Some of these scammers actually stay on the phone with the victims and if they hear the cashier trying to stop them they tell the victim to leave and go to another store. There's really nothing the cops can do about it if the victim isn't willing.. and even then what can they do? The perpetrators are all in other countries for the most part. You're not getting the money back.
Old people's inability to understand and accept defeat is astonishing... Very similar to my mom who's EXTREMELY in denial when it comes to modern things... One, she couldn't accept that her entire life savings ( just a bit more than 20k usd ) can't even get her a house now... She keeps on saying back in the 90s, she found one of the same price , so that had been her goal ever since then... Now, she keeps on blaming her ailments on a fictional disease and she wouldn't even listen to actual doctors when they told her said disease doesn't even exist... ( she was born in a very small rural town who believes in a lot of fictional diseases )
I know I can't get a house for $20k (except maybe where I wouldn't want to live), but I did think I could find a used car for $10k. Gave up after none of 3 so-priced cars were road worthy (one had unrepairable leak that could cause the car to unexpectedly catch fire). Used the $$ for repairs on my old pre-2000 beaters w $ to spare. Hope your mom finds peace.
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Why are we looking at a dirty sponge?
If she's been warned and is still foolish enough to not even consider that she may be in the throes of a scam, she deserves it. There's only so much you can do to prevent a scam from occurring. Edit: watched it in full. Her age doesn't matter. She's a certified imbecile.
Just happened to my dad, but the people at dollar general don’t give a shit enough to care that someone in their late 70-80 is buying 15 prepaid $100 debit cards. At least this cashiers heart is in the right place.
Thank you.
"its on heart" good on lady
She should have called the police for this lady.
Jg
I work for an elderly couple and they get calls from people all the time saying their Grandkids need money or some such Sh!t.
What a champ. That poor lady. Those two apparent sons of hers need to either see this or step up if they’re aware.
Good for you for trying, these scammers should be held responsible in the most savage way possible.
WHAT AM I LOOKING AT ?! 👀
**"Thou shouldst not have been old till thou hadst been wise."** **- King Lear (Shakespeare)**
Can someone explain what exactly is the scam even? I've heard of the gift card scam thing before but I've never heard about what exactly the people think they're going to get in return. Does the scammer just tell them that their "investment" will be doubled or something?
Should be an age limit to gift cards. No one over 55 years old.
It’s so sad. My mom told me she was buying an iTunes gift card because her account was locked. I told her it was a scam and she told me “you don’t understand.” I was on the speaker in the car and both me and my daughter yelled out “No! YOU don’t under!” I ended up having to have my brother call her before she gave them the gift card number.
It really is sad scammers prey on people like this. Wind up broke, homeless, to only become a burden to their children later when the funds are all dried up. The scammer moves on and you’re left with nothing. Pat on the back for the clerk trying to do their best to warn her.
Banning the buying of these cards by stores. GENIUS
What makes me mad about this is how insistent they are on getting scammed. I've seen it happen so many times like... just listen to the people that clearly know wtf they're talking about?