Ugh, my mom got taken in by a phone scammer

[dr.girlfriend]

It was SO obvious and yet even when I was telling her over and over that it was a scam she still wasn't convinced.  He talked her into transferring $999 out of two separate bank accounts, and god knows what else was compromised.  We are helping her shut down both bank accounts and all her credit cards, but this mess is going to take ages to untangle, and I'm worried now that they know she's vulnerable someone is just going to call her again and she'll be equally foolish.

ETA:  The more information I get the worse it gets...looks like he talked her through installing an app that let him see her phone screen so he probably got EVERYTHING.  And one bank is already saying they won't credit back the transfer since she initiated it herself.  It's not "fraud" if she just got scammed.

[mlkgls]

I’m so sorry this happened. Not that there is any good kind of scam, but these enrage me since they always seem to target older, more vulnerable populations.

[bronxgirl]

I'm so sorry. How awful.

[farmvillelover]

Sorry DrG, I responded in your other post about what you could possibly do to prevent this in the future.

[dr.girlfriend]

Aug 29, 2020 20:15:34 GMT -5 farmvillelover said:

Sorry DrG, I responded in your other post about what you could possibly do to prevent this in the future.

Thanks, it was super helpful.  My sister and I need to talk.

[quesyrah]

I’m sorry that happened to you. I know how frustrating that is!

2 years ago my dad got taken in by the IRS phone scam and wired four $7,000 cashiers checks to the scammers.

[dr.girlfriend]

Aug 30, 2020 13:10:03 GMT -5 quesyrah said:

I’m sorry that happened to you. I know how frustrating that is!

2 years ago my dad got taken in by the IRS phone scam and wired four $7,000 cashiers checks to the scammers.

OMG, yeah, it definitely could be worse.  A few years ago my dad got one of those "a warrant has been issued for your arrest if you don't pay the IRS..." I told him it was an obvious scam, the IRS never calls you, etc.  He wouldn't believe me until we called the IRS together and the actual IRS agent told him it was a scam.  And then he went on and on trying to tell the IRS guy how he should hunt these people down and prosecute them and the poor guy was like, "Sir, they are usually not even in the U.S., there is nothing we can do..."

[quesyrah]

Aug 30, 2020 20:30:48 GMT -5 dr.girlfriend said:

Aug 30, 2020 13:10:03 GMT -5 quesyrah said:

I’m sorry that happened to you. I know how frustrating that is!

2 years ago my dad got taken in by the IRS phone scam and wired four $7,000 cashiers checks to the scammers.

OMG, yeah, it definitely could be worse.  A few years ago my dad got one of those "a warrant has been issued for your arrest if you don't pay the IRS..." I told him it was an obvious scam, the IRS never calls you, etc.  He wouldn't believe me until we called the IRS together and the actual IRS agent told him it was a scam.  And then he went on and on trying to tell the IRS guy how he should hunt these people down and prosecute them and the poor guy was like, "Sir, they are usually not even in the U.S., there is nothing we can do..."

My dad found out it was a scam when he called the IRS to check the status of his account and they told him it was a scam.

They kept calling him for weeks threatening an arrest warrant. It was a nightmare