Scam Grandma

Well, I have heard of these phone calls and never thought I would get one but today, on a whim, I answered a call marked "Blocked" which I rarely ever do.  However, I did find that one of my physicians has his phone call to the patients marked Blocked -not good for business in my opinion.

So I answered this call - just for a lark and to my surprise a voice on the other end said "Grandma?".  I knew instantly that it was a scam phone call because a friend of mine had received one recently and we all had a good laugh over it - her grandson was in the same room as her at the time, and so he could not possibly be on the phone to her with a sob story asking for money.  My first comment to him was, "My how your voice has changed!"  and he did not get a clue.

This well developed male voice went on with a very disturbing story of how his friend had been killed by a drunk driver in Mexico and he and another friend, whom I should have known from his high school days, were on the highway going to the funeral and they had been stopped by the highway patrol for a broken tail light, " and you would not guess what they found in my car." he went on to say, and at that point I chimed in and said " So they found a dead body?"  He did not even get a clue that I was toying with this call, this caller is pretty dense, "No, " he said, "they found a big bale of Marijuana" and I said to him "Well, at last they caught you with the goods.  You should have been more careful!".  He still did not get a clue that I was toying with him.  He said "I am now in jail and I need you to not tell anyone what I am about to tell you."  Promise me Grandma, you won't tell...............At this point I had heard enough, I just told him, "you know what honey,  you are not my grandson.  My grandson is 6 weeks old and I really doubt if he would have a drivers license or be in possession of Marijuana.  You sir, are a scam artist."  He then started on asking if I could give him a phone number of someone who would help him out with money........!"  Are you kidding?  I hung up on him and have had a good laugh over it.  He was not even smooth in his delivery and not convincing that he was my grandson.  Even Ethan, at age 10 is still a boy soprano and he is my eldest grandson, and then comes Oliver at 7 years of age and August  now a little over 6 weeks of age.

Some crooks just are not smart!  However, many seniors in this area are scammed daily by just such calls.

Some time back a lady called and after she had identified herself (I still did not know her), she said "Mr. Smithers (or some such made up name), will be at your home next Tuesday  at 2pm, to help you with your estate planning.  We would like you to have all your papers out ready for him to look over and tell you the best way to plan your estate.  He will also look over your Trust."  I said to her that we had just had the Trust drawn up and did not need anyone to look over it.  I also told her that I did not know her Mr. Smithers and neither did I have an appointment with him.  She said, well, you do need your TRUST examined because the laws have changed since it was done.  That was puzzling becuase only about 4 weeks had elapsed since we had it drawn up.  She went on to say, Well it must have been your husband who set up the appointment.  In any case, he will be there at 2pm on Tuesday.  I managed to keep her on the line asking her questions etc. and finally she said, "You sound awfully young. You are 82 years of age aren't you?"  I then came to the conclusion that this was indeed a scam and told her that she had better find some other person who was really really old to see if she could squeeze their life savings out of them on this pretense.

Other scam artists come often to Prescott and send out flyers offering a free meal - sometimes at a really upscale restaurant, but mostly at the "Feeding Trough" type restaurant.  They come with flashy clothes, slick presentations, canned jokes, and greedy eyes.  Some of them come in expensive suits, flashy rings (probably from K-Mart), suave haircuts, perfect tans, or open neck shirts, Salvation Army Thrift Store slacks and coat that do not fit well and scuffed shoes along with the greedy eyes. They have investments that you NEED TO MAKE this month and to take advantage of their offer sign on the dotted line.  they promise "You can make millions on our plan" - correct that - they can make millions on your money and give you little return if any or if at all.  Anyone can be a financial planner  even a flim flam con artist.

Well, so much for the excitement of today.  Later on I have to be at the Family History Center for my 4 hour shift and I wonder what I will have to solve today.  Last week a lady came in trying to find her birth mother or information about her own parentage.   Apparently she was adopted by and raised by her birth  grandmother and not her mother who was 16 yrs old at the time.  I told her that we only deal with dead people here.  She did not give up at that point but pursued the need to solve the parentage problem.  The more she spoke about the family relationships, it became clear that this was probably an interfamily adoption.  In any case, those who know the true story are all dead and the records are closed.