My mom got scammed- what would you suggest?

[ProfessorArtNerd]

Ok here is the story, as I understand it.

My mom was getting out of her car, and a roofing truck drove by. They said “hey you have some shingles on the roof (?) and that’s not good. Want us to look at it?” She let them, and they did went ahead and did a bunch of work. (It seems like this happened quickly, she was coming home from taking my son to see Jurassic World, and she called me about an hour or so later).

Guys. She gave him a check for $2000. He tried to charge $3000, but she said she only had $2000. I told her to stop payment on the check as soon as she called me. It was already cashed. She has no name or anything.

Her bank’s fraud department has been notified. I think she should call the police.

Any advice?

[k3am]

I’d Google the laws in your state. I know police wouldn’t bother with this here, particularly in my city.

Personally, I’d chalk it up as a dumb mistake and a learning lesson, but that also may be my pure exhaustion from my mom constantly being scammed because she’s an easy victim.

[k3am]

She should also have the name of the person she wrote the check to. If she doesn’t remember off the top of her head, she can pull the check copy and it should be on the front and usually back.

[purplepenguin7]

I’m sorry, this sucks. It sounds unfortunate and like she was taken advantage of but not really a fraud/scam. They did work, she paid and willingly handed over a check. Without a name of the roofing company or anything, I don’t see any possible recourse to getting the money back.

[icedcoffee]

Oye. I honestly don’t think there’s much that can be done. She gave them a legit check. 😞

[mofongo]

I’m so sorry:(( God people are awful.

[sofamonkey]

The extra super shitty thing is they can wash the check and write it for however much they feel like. Also, they now have her checking account number and routing number, which can be used on any number of online outlets to pay for services. If I were here, I’d close the account and open a new one with her bank. She should be able to give them a list of any outstanding checks waiting to be cashed and clear just those from the new account.

I’m sure she feels awful, but people like this make a living preying on people. The only people that should feel bad in this scenario is them, but they probably won’t because they’re heartless assholes.

Also, I’d have someone come inspect the shit they did to her roof. It’s possible they completely fucked it up too.

[sofamonkey]

Jul 6, 2022 19:53:39 GMT -5 purplepenguin7 said:

I’m sorry, this sucks. It sounds unfortunate and like she was taken advantage of but not really a fraud/scam. They did work, she paid and willingly handed over a check. Without a name of the roofing company or anything, I don’t see any possible recourse to getting the money back.

What?! Oh hell no. They did something. They did work without an estimate, or any actual business type dealings. This isn’t a “oh well, she’s just gotta pay them” situation at all.

ETA they asked to take a look, and they proceeded without approval. No fucking way.

[mambo123]

Jul 6, 2022 20:29:55 GMT -5 sofamonkey said:

Jul 6, 2022 19:53:39 GMT -5 purplepenguin7 said:

I’m sorry, this sucks. It sounds unfortunate and like she was taken advantage of but not really a fraud/scam. They did work, she paid and willingly handed over a check. Without a name of the roofing company or anything, I don’t see any possible recourse to getting the money back.

What?! Oh hell no. They did something. They did work without an estimate, or any actual business type dealings. This isn’t a “oh well, she’s just gotta pay them” situation at all.

ETA they asked to take a look, and they proceeded without approval. No fucking way.

Agreed.

But she’s going to have a hell of a time getting the bank to reverse this charge with her signature on it.

[ProfessorArtNerd]

Jul 6, 2022 20:29:55 GMT -5 sofamonkey said:

Jul 6, 2022 19:53:39 GMT -5 purplepenguin7 said:

I’m sorry, this sucks. It sounds unfortunate and like she was taken advantage of but not really a fraud/scam. They did work, she paid and willingly handed over a check. Without a name of the roofing company or anything, I don’t see any possible recourse to getting the money back.

What?! Oh hell no. They did something. They did work without an estimate, or any actual business type dealings. This isn’t a “oh well, she’s just gotta pay them” situation at all.

ETA they asked to take a look, and they proceeded without approval. No fucking way.

That’s where I am. She says she told them not to do any work and she paid them bc they know where she lives? I don’t know but I’m so pissed

[af1212]

This is what I would suggest - www.nbcphiladelphia.com/investigators/consumer/

[tacokick]

Some states do have programs for dealing with elder fraud. I’d look into that.

There are some resources here too

www.justice.gov/elderjustice/roadmap

www.justice.gov/archives/stopfraud-archive/elder-fraud-and-financial-exploitation

[purplepenguin7]

Jul 6, 2022 20:29:55 GMT -5 sofamonkey said:

Jul 6, 2022 19:53:39 GMT -5 purplepenguin7 said:

I’m sorry, this sucks. It sounds unfortunate and like she was taken advantage of but not really a fraud/scam. They did work, she paid and willingly handed over a check. Without a name of the roofing company or anything, I don’t see any possible recourse to getting the money back.

What?! Oh hell no. They did something. They did work without an estimate, or any actual business type dealings. This isn’t a “oh well, she’s just gotta pay them” situation at all.

ETA they asked to take a look, and they proceeded without approval. No fucking way.

I’m not saying this guy isn’t a complete asshole. He totally is and it sucks to lose that much money. But from a bank perspective there is not much that can be done about getting that money back. The previous poster who suggested closing the account and opening a new one was a great idea.

Edit/ just realized it was your idea. Definitely a good suggestion.

[gastro]

There was a similar thing happening our neighborhood with patching up driveways. I believe Next Door helped to catch the culprits. They didn’t just target your mom so definitely ask neighbors, camera footage - maybe someone has more information- vehicle license plates, etc.

[sofamonkey]

Jul 6, 2022 20:52:02 GMT -5 mambo123 said:

Jul 6, 2022 20:29:55 GMT -5 sofamonkey said:

What?! Oh hell no. They did something. They did work without an estimate, or any actual business type dealings. This isn’t a “oh well, she’s just gotta pay them” situation at all.

ETA they asked to take a look, and they proceeded without approval. No fucking way.

Agreed.

But she’s going to have a hell of a time getting the bank to reverse this charge with her signature on it.

It’s a check. And she’s put a stop check on it. So, she’s good.

Even if it was a CC, she’s still have some recourse.

[af1212]

Jul 6, 2022 21:07:09 GMT -5 sofamonkey said:

Jul 6, 2022 20:52:02 GMT -5 mambo123 said:

Agreed.

But she’s going to have a hell of a time getting the bank to reverse this charge with her signature on it.

It’s a check. And she’s put a stop check on it. So, she’s good.

Even if it was a CC, she’s still have some recourse.

Even though the check has already been cashed?

[sofamonkey]

Jul 6, 2022 21:10:35 GMT -5 af1212 said:

Jul 6, 2022 21:07:09 GMT -5 sofamonkey said:

It’s a check. And she’s put a stop check on it. So, she’s good.

Even if it was a CC, she’s still have some recourse.

Even though the check has already been cashed?

Oh shit, I completely missed that part. Then no.

May they have centipedes for children and go broke trying to keep them in shoes.

[mambo123]

Jul 6, 2022 21:14:13 GMT -5 sofamonkey said:

Jul 6, 2022 21:10:35 GMT -5 af1212 said:

Even though the check has already been cashed?

Oh shit, I completely missed that part. Then no.

May they have centipedes for children and go broke trying to keep them in shoes.

Yeah…. I do think it is 100% worth a conversation with the fraud department. Clearly they know who claims to own the other bank account. I just don’t know if she will get far.

[sent]

Is there a local FB group where she is? Our local groups would be all over this trying to help their neighbor solve the mystery.

[quesyrah]

I doubt the police will do anything unfortunately.

My dad got taken for $28,000 by the IRS scam so I sympathize with your anger.

[SwimDeep]

Depending on her homeowners insurance policy, she might need to make a vandalism claim. Unfortunately my H sees this type of thing a lot in his line of work. It's how shady roofing companies get business. They're in the neighborhood so they knock on doors and tell people they're checking roofs for damage. Then they get up on the roof and actually cause the damage.

They tell the homeowners that it's wind or hail, but vandalism looks completely different and H can always tell. Repairs are usually still covered, but it's an awful practice and usually gets roofing companies put on a "list."

Anyway, I have no advice on reclaiming the money, but she should contact a reputable roofing company to check what they did to her roof and then depending on what they say file an insurance claim.

I'm sorry she has to deal with this 😔

[mcppalmbeach]

Can’t the bank see to whom the check was written? I would think it the fraud department is involved they should have the resources to track it down. It sounds like a good idea to have her change accounts or speak to the bank about what protections are in place. I would also ask a reputable roofer to come take a look at the work and make sure that they didn’t mess anything up up there:

quesyrah My mom lost $32,000 in a wire transfer scheme. It was extremely upsetting and basically everyone she spoke to was like oh, too bad. Her friend had the exact same scenario happen as well. It all stemmed from someone calling claiming she had overpaid for something and they wanted to refund her, but she needed to wire them money first. She was in her early 60s at the time and I was very concerned that she had fallen for this She is super smart, but She has been taken advantage of in other ways because she is not internet savvy. Like she bought us play tickets last year and paid like $500 from a reseller because she didn’t realize it wasn’t the venue.

[stemmie]

If you can get the name of the person who cashed the check-- the band should have a copy. You might be able to proceed through this agency-

clsphila.org/services/elder-abuse/

That said, I would proactively open new accounts (if she gets social security it can take a couple months to transfer automatic deposits into the new account-- she'll get a paper check in the meantime; this can be done online through her SSA account). I might also lock down her credit on the 3 major bureaus (you can reverse this later if you need to) online as a precaution.

I would also take a long hard look at your mom's vulnerability and ability to make prudent decisions around threats that she might not understand. You might have to be more proactive in keeping her safe which sucks. If she's impulsive about getting this sort of thing done, putting yourself on her checking account with both signatures required would slow her roll.

[ProfessorArtNerd]

My dad is there too- he’s almost completely deaf and doesn’t sign or anything (another problem entirely). I’m so upset about how OLD they are. Like not age wise, they’re only 68, but so so feeble. My sister lives with them, but she was asleep since she works overnight. It’s so scary

[Jalapeñomel]

I got scammed like 5 years ago. I didn’t lose that much money, but you never think it’ll happen to you…until it does. These people are professionals—-they know what to say, how to say it, and when to do it. It’s horrible and embarrassing.

I’m sorry this happened to your mom. I think the likeliness she will recover this money is low, but it certainly doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try.

[underwaterrhymes]

I’m so sorry. I don’t know if they have any recourse - as others have said, I suspect they’ll be out of luck.

But this is actually really, really common and every homeowner should be aware of it. A lot of time they’ll come through the neighborhood and will tell you they’re looking for roof damage because of “last year’s big storm.”

It’s basically ambulance chasing. We’ve had at least five or six people come by since we moved in 8 years ago and our roof was brand new when we moved in.

[karinothing]

So do they come by and go up and check the roof and start fixing it before asking (and then demand money). Or do they say something is wrong and then she agreed to having it fixed by them?

We always have those roof guys come by our house, but I wasn't sure how they really operated.

[ProfessorArtNerd]

Jul 7, 2022 9:42:18 GMT -5 karinothing said:

So do they come by and go up and check the roof and start fixing it before asking (and then demand money). Or do they say something is wrong and then she agreed to having it fixed by them?

We always have those roof guys come by our house, but I wasn't sure how they really operated.

They checked, and “did work” on both the roof and some concrete on the side of the house without approval.

[quesyrah]

Jul 7, 2022 5:25:59 GMT -5 mcppalmbeach said:

Can’t the bank see to whom the check was written? I would think it the fraud department is involved they should have the resources to track it down. It sounds like a good idea to have her change accounts or speak to the bank about what protections are in place. I would also ask a reputable roofer to come take a look at the work and make sure that they didn’t mess anything up up there:

quesyrah My mom lost $32,000 in a wire transfer scheme. It was extremely upsetting and basically everyone she spoke to was like oh, too bad. Her friend had the exact same scenario happen as well. It all stemmed from someone calling claiming she had overpaid for something and they wanted to refund her, but she needed to wire them money first. She was in her early 60s at the time and I was very concerned that she had fallen for this She is super smart, but She has been taken advantage of in other ways because she is not internet savvy. Like she bought us play tickets last year and paid like $500 from a reseller because she didn’t realize it wasn’t the venue.

Ugh that is maddening!

I went into the bank to ask them why the hell they let an elderly man wire four $7,000 cashiers checks to FL. The first time it didn’t go through so he went back home to double check the information and came back.

The bank said “we can’t tell people what to do with their money.”

[NewOrleans]

My FIL had 20k insurance $ for a new roof. He got an email from his roofing contractor saying he’s been hacked and needed the $ sent to ___ instead of where he’s been instructed to send it (I can’t remember now). He sent it.

It was a scam. The guy’s email WAS hacked or spoofed, but he did not make that request.

After just a couple months of not doing anything at all, the bank closed the case and he was out all the $. 😣