It’s not the first time it’s happened, though it’s been years. Some guy with a foreign accent calls my cell number, claiming to be from the UPS and saying he’s got a package for me. When I asked how he could have a package for me of all people (since nobody could possibly know how to address such a thing and would therefore never send one,) he proceeded to tell me it contained a check for $60,000. At which point I decided my phone time was more valuable to me than the opportunity to play with his head and I hung up.
As I said, it has happened before. And this time as before, I kinda wish I’d played it out long enough to learn what the caller actually wanted. What’s the point of such a transparent con? Would he demand a credit card number at some point, or what?
Hard to say what they really wanted… If there are actually people who buy into some of the “Nigerian email scams,” there is plenty of incentive for them to keep trying.
I had an interesting scam attempt a year or so ago. Someone called, claiming to be my grandson. He sounded credible at first (remember that I don’t hear well, and I have not talked to him often on the phone anyway), but the longer he talked the more suspicious I became. Finally he said he had taken a trip to Mexico and got in trouble a little and needed some money to get home. Oh boy, that sent up the red flag. My grandson was only 15 then, and highly unlikely to get out from under his mother’s thumb in any case. But it could happen… So I asked why he had not gotten in touch with his mother or father instead of calling me. He danced around that for a while, then really started trying to put on the emotional pressure. I just laughed and told him to get lost, then hung up. Luckily, I do not pay for incoming calls.
Of course, then I called my son to ask about the boy, and was told he had not gone anywhere. My son is divorced, but keeps tabs on the children. The young man who called must have gotten my phone number from my grandson or someone close because he knew just too much about our family and me to be a totally unconnected stranger. Could have been a very scary thing if I’d not been wary.
Oh, yeah. I got that one a few years ago claiming to be from my daughter, and actually freaked out for a bit until I settled down and checked facts.
A great many older folks are taken in by these scams, unfortunately. The person who called had obviously done his homework, and knew far too much about our family – but not enough to understand the dynamics between me and the children, for one thing. The idea of the boy going off to Mexico was ludicrous to start with, but the emotional pressure was the final clue. My grandson wouldn’t dream of trying such things on me. He knows perfectly well I can’t be manipulated that way.
I usually forget my cell phone but I never forget to keep it turned off. I don’t do text or other messages and I know just enough about the phone to delete these without having to read them. I hate the sound of the phone ringing and it is so peaceful with it shut off. I avoid the drama from friends and family and still have a phne when I want one. I do wish that AT&T would make it an option that you can only receive incoming calls from numbers already in your list of contacts.
One of my neighbors got the grandson in trouble call a few years ago and the caller knew scary details about the grandson, the family, the neighbor and the neighborhood. When the money request was refused the caller threatened to burn down the neighbor’s house. Grandson denied knowing anything about it. Given the amount of information the caller had, people were watchful for a while but nothing happened. You do wonder.
One of my favorite things is to tell the telemarketer/scammer to hold on while I get a pen and paper…then I take a nap.
All the telemarketer calls I get are recordings. They actually seem to think I’m going to listen to their shit and then call THEM? Oh yeah… in a pigs eye.