My elderly mother has been getting phone calls from people running this same scam recently

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.southbendtribune.com/article/20100113/News01/1130323/1130

Mishawaka women warn of scams
Man called, asked them to wire money.

January 16, 2010

By TOM MOOR
Tribune Staff Writer

MISHAWAKA — Two Mishawaka women are warning area residents about a possible scam that appears to be circulating the area.

Margaret Spear said a man claiming he was an FBI agent called her and asked her to wire $1,500 from a Western Union office to a man in Jamaica, in exchange for $2.5 million he said she had won. The man gave her his name, a badge number and his supervisor's name.

Spear called the FBI, which said it was an offshore account, and that the man had a phony badge number. To make matters worse for Spear, she said she's received other calls from the same number, including a death threat left Tuesday, stating she was going to die.

She filed a report with Mishawaka police late Tuesday afternoon. Spear added that police told her the same thing happened to another Mishawaka woman about two weeks earlier.

"That's so scary that people are doing this and saying they're the FBI," she said.

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She gave all of her checking information to one of them. What a mess that was to get the account closed and all he direct deposits rerouted. She is getting old. We all do.

Be on the alert about this though. Like we don't have enough stuff to worry about already.

Don

[rocktivity]

1. Wait until the phone calls start coming in

from "Haiti" -- "Hi, I'm calling you from a cell phone I took off a dead body. Can you wire me some money via my cousin in Ohio?"

:eyes:
rocktivity

[katmondoo]

2. I have been getting a lot of "You have won stuff" lately

I am considered elderly (by some)I do think they target the elderly knowing they may not be as sharp as they once were. I throw away this stuff or if it is a phone call I just drive them nuts.I consider it great fun to drive them crazy. They think they have me then when they realize I am making them into fools then they get sooooo mad.

[niyad]

4. I love those calls. I always ask how much it is going to cost me--and then say, "if I have to pay a

penny, I didn't WIN anything. oh, and by the way, I didn't enter any contest. will be calling the DA as soon as I hang up, since I can see where this call originated."

[thecrow]

6. That's too much for my mother to remember...

and if she got a call like this, she wouldn't remember it or what she told the people on the other end.
That's what's so scarey about this, and so criminal about it.

[niyad]

3. sad that the elderly are targeted this way. NEVER give any information over the phone!

hell, I don't even answer surveys over the phone.

[Bitwit1234]

5. Here's another

You get a call from a circulation department. They say you owe for magazines. I don't and won't' because I do no read any magazines, except in the doctors office. They argue and say well if you give them your credit card number they will cut the bill in half or have to turn it over to a collection agency. I told them to go ahead, because I have a recorder(which I don't) on my phone and I am going to call the State Attorney General and report this. Before I can finish my sentence they hang up. How many people get scared into giving this information even tho they never heard of this, and don't have these subscriptions. The people won't even tell you the name of the magazines. I reported them to do not call and gave do not call all the info of the scam. I hope they get them.

[beyurslf]

7. Anytime I have gotten a call that threatens collection, I tell them to go ahead

since I check my credit report regularly. I tell them good luck since the only thing they ever seem to know is my name and phone number.

[Maru Kitteh]

8. I programmed my moms phone to make two rings, a "good" ring and a "bad" one

The good ring is programmed for everyone on her phone list, the bank, the clinic, and the pharmacy. The bad ring is for any other number. I told her never to pick it up on the "bad" ring, to just let it go to voice-mail because if they are not on her list, it's not an emergency and they can leave a message or forget about it.

Worked like a charm.