What steps can I take now that my mom's been scammed out of $2,000?
December 1, 2015 5:35 PM Subscribe
Today, a guy called up my elderly mother, pretending to be me, with a far-fetched story about 'me' traveling in a car that was speeding, and yada yada yada, the police needed $2,000 wired to them so that this incident wouldn't go on my 'permanent record'. The phone number the 'policeman' gave was a 514 area code (Montreal). My mother used Western Union to wire the scammers the money. She lives in New York City. Yes, I've told her not to give any information over the phone, and yes, the con story is nonsensical in several ways, not least of which is her incorrectly recognizing her son's voice-My question is, do we have any chance of identifying and prosecuting these guys? The victim is in NYC, the perps were impersonating me and a (corrupt) San Francisco policeman, and they were using a Montreal phone number, which may also have been stolen/spoofed. Any insight appreciated. Be careful out there!
Yeah, if you report it, she can deduct it from her taxes (if she itemizes.)
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 5:48 PM on December 1, 2015 [17 favorites]
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 5:48 PM on December 1, 2015 [17 favorites]
You should also file a complaint with the FTC - this is one of their major areas of interest.
posted by SMPA at 5:59 PM on December 1, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by SMPA at 5:59 PM on December 1, 2015 [4 favorites]
Report it to the NY Attorney General's office too. Here's the number for the Consumer Protection Bureau: 1-800-771-7755
posted by chickenmagazine at 5:59 PM on December 1, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by chickenmagazine at 5:59 PM on December 1, 2015 [1 favorite]
The incident may or may not have really come from a Montreal number, but you could report it to the RCMP too.
posted by zadcat at 6:08 PM on December 1, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by zadcat at 6:08 PM on December 1, 2015 [1 favorite]
In addition to all the other suggestions in this thread, consider reporting it to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre as well.
posted by Cat Face at 6:45 PM on December 1, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Cat Face at 6:45 PM on December 1, 2015 [1 favorite]
Also be aware that she is likely now being recorded by the scammers as a successful mark - you can expect her to receive more calls. Make sure she knows to text you immediately if she gets a call from you asking for money in the future.
posted by Mchelly at 6:48 PM on December 1, 2015 [20 favorites]
posted by Mchelly at 6:48 PM on December 1, 2015 [20 favorites]
How was it arranged for pickup at the other end? Have you contacted Western Union? Can they track the location it was picked up at?
posted by corb at 7:14 PM on December 1, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by corb at 7:14 PM on December 1, 2015 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Hi corb, good question. I tried getting WU on the phone but got stuck on hold. I'm not sure how WU works, but it seems like there must be some trail left...Will check it out
posted by pantufla at 7:23 PM on December 1, 2015
posted by pantufla at 7:23 PM on December 1, 2015
Response by poster: Ok, looks like the money was picked up in Mexico. I'm guessing that means 'game over' :(
posted by pantufla at 7:29 PM on December 1, 2015
posted by pantufla at 7:29 PM on December 1, 2015
Any chance her homeowner's or renter's insurance company will cover it? Give them a call.
posted by Slinga at 8:07 PM on December 1, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by Slinga at 8:07 PM on December 1, 2015 [2 favorites]
Best answer: This is the Spanish Prisoner scam, attested back to the 1500s at least. Montreal is known for its boiler rooms pulling this scam (they're to Spanish Prisoner what Nigeria is to 419 advance-fee scams).
Just a note in case you or your mom are beating yourselves up about this — she got took by professionals specializing in a scam that's been around for 500 years because it works.
I know that's less helpful in getting your money back, but hopefully it helps with peace of mind.
posted by klangklangston at 9:20 PM on December 1, 2015 [24 favorites]
Just a note in case you or your mom are beating yourselves up about this — she got took by professionals specializing in a scam that's been around for 500 years because it works.
I know that's less helpful in getting your money back, but hopefully it helps with peace of mind.
posted by klangklangston at 9:20 PM on December 1, 2015 [24 favorites]
I've no idea how difficult it is to change phone numbers these days, but it might be worth it to change numbers, so she's not inundated now that she's a success-story-mark. Her number will be widely shared and they'll start calling again.
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 9:42 PM on December 1, 2015 [7 favorites]
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 9:42 PM on December 1, 2015 [7 favorites]
These are getting more and more popular in the US -- my grandmother nearly fell for one of these with a young man crying out "grandma" even though she has no male grandchildren of that age.
If your mother attends any community centres or places of worship, make sure they are informed as well -- they may also be able to offer help and/or support.
posted by Ms. Moonlight at 3:00 AM on December 2, 2015 [1 favorite]
If your mother attends any community centres or places of worship, make sure they are informed as well -- they may also be able to offer help and/or support.
posted by Ms. Moonlight at 3:00 AM on December 2, 2015 [1 favorite]
I don't know the answer to this question - but is there a way for her to authorize some sort of alert on her account if there's a large withdrawal? It sounds like she may be getting on in years and having some memory issues. You don't give your mom's age, but elderly people get targeted for all sorts of scams. A relative of mine who was having trouble with her own bills made a $1000 donation to a TV church.
posted by FencingGal at 5:33 AM on December 2, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by FencingGal at 5:33 AM on December 2, 2015 [1 favorite]
She needs to report the incident to her bank. They'll want to know in case law enforcement ever comes calling and they'll try to connect the crime to other victims so they can pool the evidence. The people who commit fraud like this usually don't get caught until enough of their crimes can be connected that some law enforcement agency is willing to throw more resources at it.
Furthermore, the bank might reimburse her for the fraud, they don't have to but a lot of bank's will as long as it's under a certain amount and it costs nothing to ask. You'll want to make sure that you're talking to a competent banker if you go to a branch but depending on the bank, you might have more success calling the phone bank first as they'll probably route you to someone who deals with fraud and nothing else.
Unless it gets connected to a larger fraud ring, there probably isn't much else that will happen. I know it's a hassle but go through the motions anyway. You and your mom will feel better and there IS a non-zero chance that the crime will get prosecuted.
posted by VTX at 6:24 AM on December 2, 2015 [4 favorites]
Furthermore, the bank might reimburse her for the fraud, they don't have to but a lot of bank's will as long as it's under a certain amount and it costs nothing to ask. You'll want to make sure that you're talking to a competent banker if you go to a branch but depending on the bank, you might have more success calling the phone bank first as they'll probably route you to someone who deals with fraud and nothing else.
Unless it gets connected to a larger fraud ring, there probably isn't much else that will happen. I know it's a hassle but go through the motions anyway. You and your mom will feel better and there IS a non-zero chance that the crime will get prosecuted.
posted by VTX at 6:24 AM on December 2, 2015 [4 favorites]
Although it has not specifically involved a scam, my grandma has also recently been having a lot of issues with money management. One thing that has helped is that we've talked to her bank and they give my mom a call if there's anything that seems off. Of course, this is a small town bank - I'm not sure whether a NYC bank would be willing/able to do that, but you could check! One thing to consider is whether it makes sense for her to have full access to all of her money right now -- for example, there's probably no circumstances where your mom needs to withdraw $2000 in cash without talking to you first, so maybe that should be a limit that gets put on her account (if the bank is willing/able to work with you).
posted by rainbowbrite at 6:57 AM on December 2, 2015
posted by rainbowbrite at 6:57 AM on December 2, 2015
There was a story on the news recently in Vancouver about a lady who got scammed online - different scam entirely (The Sweetheart Scam) - anyway, she fell in love with a man online and over the course of several months, she sent him approximately $300,000.
I'm not telling you this for any other reason than to say, I'm sorry your mum got scammed, but heck, it could have been a LOT worse than the $2000 she ended up sending.
And yes, definitely try and change her phone number... and boy, do these kinds of scams make me really, really mad!!
posted by JenThePro at 9:36 AM on December 2, 2015
I'm not telling you this for any other reason than to say, I'm sorry your mum got scammed, but heck, it could have been a LOT worse than the $2000 she ended up sending.
And yes, definitely try and change her phone number... and boy, do these kinds of scams make me really, really mad!!
posted by JenThePro at 9:36 AM on December 2, 2015
I'm very sorry this happened to your mother. I don't have any advice to give, but wanted to share this Pacific Standard article on the "grandparent scam" in case you or anyone else wants to circulate it to loved ones. Bottom line: there are tons of people out there (mostly in Montreal) working these scams. Hopefully your mom doesn't feel too bad about this, as she was acting out of love and concern for you, and when stressed/worried we tend to not sit back and think rationally.
posted by puellaeterna at 11:12 AM on December 2, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by puellaeterna at 11:12 AM on December 2, 2015 [1 favorite]
I work in technical services for a financial institution.
About a month ago, one of my users got scammed via a particularly well written bit of malware on her computer along with the very best piece of fake antivirus I've ever seen. Basically a year ago she fell for one of the "your computer is infected" things and spent like $300 for them to "fix it", "fixing it" was just infecting it worse. Then she brought it to me, and I cleaned it up but told her she'd need her disk to reinstall her Kaspersky. Unbenounced to me, it was the scammers who "sold" her Kaspersky, so she called them back and they remoted back in and convinced her that I broke her computer and charged her another $250 to fix it and promptly reinstalled another fake antivirus.
She brought it to me quite upset and so I got to explain to her that she'd been scammed.
I was peeved about the whole thing, but I had a phone number and a website, so I went fishing. Using whois I found who owned the fake website. Then I found his other 3 websites. Then I found his personal address and his business address, an "electronics" store in the Jamaica section of NYC, and using that I got the real phone number. Then I called the 800 number back and asked them to prove to me they weren't scammers, I got "disconnected". I called back twice more. Same. Then I called them on their NON-800 number and talked to the same person who was QUITE upset that I'd found her actual number. I found them on street view.
Then I called the NYPD calling center and found out what precinct the business was in. Then I called that precinct and asked to speak to a detective. I led with the part where I thought that he wouldn't be able to help me but it was worth a shot. He seemed really willing to hear me out. Very quickly he pointed out to me that because the crime didn't actually happen in NYC, or rather that the victim was not in NYC when the crime happened, that it was out of his jurisdiction. I tried to argue that they were perpetrating fraud certainly against NYC'ers as well, and that the transaction happened in NYC, but he didn't care. He offered to extend the opportunity for our small town police to come to NYC to investigate...cuz yeah that'll happen. He wasn't interested in stopping by or checking it out or anything, although I think he was impressed with the amount of information I'd be able to pull together.
I wound up reporting it to the US Internet Crime division of...the FBI? And I've not heard anything.
Apparently interstate scams are the best biz ever because they're nobody's problem.
posted by TomMelee at 6:31 AM on December 3, 2015 [4 favorites]
About a month ago, one of my users got scammed via a particularly well written bit of malware on her computer along with the very best piece of fake antivirus I've ever seen. Basically a year ago she fell for one of the "your computer is infected" things and spent like $300 for them to "fix it", "fixing it" was just infecting it worse. Then she brought it to me, and I cleaned it up but told her she'd need her disk to reinstall her Kaspersky. Unbenounced to me, it was the scammers who "sold" her Kaspersky, so she called them back and they remoted back in and convinced her that I broke her computer and charged her another $250 to fix it and promptly reinstalled another fake antivirus.
She brought it to me quite upset and so I got to explain to her that she'd been scammed.
I was peeved about the whole thing, but I had a phone number and a website, so I went fishing. Using whois I found who owned the fake website. Then I found his other 3 websites. Then I found his personal address and his business address, an "electronics" store in the Jamaica section of NYC, and using that I got the real phone number. Then I called the 800 number back and asked them to prove to me they weren't scammers, I got "disconnected". I called back twice more. Same. Then I called them on their NON-800 number and talked to the same person who was QUITE upset that I'd found her actual number. I found them on street view.
Then I called the NYPD calling center and found out what precinct the business was in. Then I called that precinct and asked to speak to a detective. I led with the part where I thought that he wouldn't be able to help me but it was worth a shot. He seemed really willing to hear me out. Very quickly he pointed out to me that because the crime didn't actually happen in NYC, or rather that the victim was not in NYC when the crime happened, that it was out of his jurisdiction. I tried to argue that they were perpetrating fraud certainly against NYC'ers as well, and that the transaction happened in NYC, but he didn't care. He offered to extend the opportunity for our small town police to come to NYC to investigate...cuz yeah that'll happen. He wasn't interested in stopping by or checking it out or anything, although I think he was impressed with the amount of information I'd be able to pull together.
I wound up reporting it to the US Internet Crime division of...the FBI? And I've not heard anything.
Apparently interstate scams are the best biz ever because they're nobody's problem.
posted by TomMelee at 6:31 AM on December 3, 2015 [4 favorites]
That jives with what I've heard TomMelee. When I was in retail/branch banking I was talking to someone from our fraud department at some training. They said that they spend the bulk of their time trying to tie fraud cases together and trying to find any a law enforcement agency willing to look at the case(s).
No one is going to go after a guy who committed this kind of fraud to one person, one time. It takes an agency with Federal jurisdiction and their resources are so limited that they'll only take on the case if it's a substantial fraud ring.
It's sad and it sucks and everyone knows it but it's reality.
posted by VTX at 11:17 AM on December 5, 2015
No one is going to go after a guy who committed this kind of fraud to one person, one time. It takes an agency with Federal jurisdiction and their resources are so limited that they'll only take on the case if it's a substantial fraud ring.
It's sad and it sucks and everyone knows it but it's reality.
posted by VTX at 11:17 AM on December 5, 2015
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by insectosaurus at 5:47 PM on December 1, 2015 [5 favorites]