This is just a warning from my experience. I received a phone call supposedly from my grandson. Voice was very scratchy. Said he was in Mexico City. Something about driving on wrong side of road. Then someone else came on phone supposedly from US Embassy. He explained about driving and more. GS was arrested and in jail. He explained all charges and costs. Amounts to $2900. If I don't pay, S will be in jail for 3 months.

I worked at a mailing store over Christmas where they do Western Union. We had an older lady that came in and wanted to send money to a forgein country. She'd never done it before and the warning bells were ringing for me. I asked her question after question about the transaction. She didn't know this person, they weren't promising her anything.... She had been drilled not to say anything. She even went home to get more info and came back to the store 2 more times and insisted that she wanted to send the money. Legally, we couldn't stop her but we tried. About 2 hours after we sent the money, her bank called us and she was standing there with them. They wanted to know if we could stop the transaction. Of course, by then all the money had been collected. We tried to talk her out of it. Another came in and said he already deposited the check someone sent and the bank said it was good. He wanted to send $5800 out of the country for this scam. Luckily, the owner was there that day and talked the guy out of it. It's hard to believe people fall for this stuff.

The "Grandma" call is an old one. My aunt got scammed 8 years ago and lost $500. There has recently been a warning about this scam in our newspaper so it must be going around again.
I haven't read all the answers but a good thing to do is ask the person calling a personal question that only you and they know.
MJDG

Thank you for this warning - so far I have not heard of anything like this here in South Africa but I expect it is on it's way. Sarah.

I even got one of the scammer calls on my cell phone I was disgusted as I have to pay for in-coming calls on an Ipod phone!!!!How sad is that!

I'm so glad you cuties share these warnings,I haven't heard these ones yet,but won't be long before they reach our south african shores!

I don't know how they think of all this stuff. Intersting to see all the things they will pull. The call that I received came from out of area. No phone number to track.

After the Soccer wold cup in South Africa, we got notificationper sms that we won One million rand. So, I phoned the Soccer guys who said nope, never had something like that, then I sent those lizzards an sms to say that they may have it on my behalf!!!!HEHEHEHe. Happens all the time.

My cousin call yesterday and said she had a call identify themselves as being with Microsoft. They said she had a malicious virus on her computer and if she gave them access they would help her get rid of it. They spoke in very bad English. She kept telling them it was a bad connection and they kept talking. She hung up on them and made multiple call reporting them. One of the calls was to Microsoft. They told her that they were glad she reported it and that another lady had, but she had given them access to her computer. They went in and and accessed all her credit cards and bank accounts and in just a few short minutes had made lots of charges on her cards and withdrawn money from her account.

I guess bottom line is - unless you know that person or you have initiated the call NEVER NEVER give out any personal info or do what they ask when money is involved. Thank-you for your warning Joyce - we all need to be reminded now and then.

5 comments

by irenewayne 04 Apr 2012

I live in Australia & also have had these calls, contacted microsoft who told us that the Fraud squad in Oz & the FBI are looking into this. Has been happening for ages. Just hang up on them & don't go to your computer!!!!!
Irene

by shirley124 04 Apr 2012

Yes I have this call 2 times. I just ahng up.

by gerryb 05 Apr 2012

Got that one too! She said "Just checking to see how your computer's running." I told her "Just fine!" and hung up! And, yes, her English was awful.

by pldc 05 Apr 2012

me too Isn't it strange that we get the same scams all over the world?

by dididwiar 05 Apr 2012

OMG me too. I dont kow what made me think I was alone in this. I kept trying to be nice and understand... I have to get tougher!!!

Thank you for the warning!

I have a TracPhone for emergencies only, and don't even have the voice mail set up on it. I don't answer it if it rings unless I recognize the name and number. Only about 4 people have the number anyway, and the phone is for MY convenience, not everybody else's. Guess I'm a little different that way. If I don't answer the home phone, I guess that means, oh, golly, I'm "not at home!" and doing something. So call back. I guess if I had a grandson, he'd be in jail in Mexico for a darn long time, hee hee hee.

Look out for another one, using text messages (which I don't do either, by the way). My phone made an odd noise, which I happened to notice quite by accident. I thought maybe it needed to be charged again, but it was apparently the alert for a text message. I looked, and lo and behold, I had won a $1000 Wal Mart gift card!!! Ya think? I don't enter their contests, they don't have my cell number. And the website they directed me to was NOT Walmart.com. Close, but not good enough. Oh, yeah, I won a free iPad, too, and was directed to a website by a second text while I was reading the first one. Please, please, just remember to think before you act on any of this stuff!! If it's too good to be true, it probably isn't true. And if it's too BAD to be true, take a deep breath, and tell the person you will call them back. If it's your "grandson" calling you on his cell, you have his number, call back. If it's the local police, the number's in the book, you call them to verify. That two minutes is rarely a matter of life & death, and may save you some gray hairs, money, furniture, and alarm clocks. And on another note, don't give your credit card number or any bank information to anyone unless YOU are the one who made the call to order something or check something. Please, please be safe with all these new gadgets, ladies!! Don't believe everything you hear or read. Big hugs, Marji

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by gerryb 05 Apr 2012

I got a couple text messages before I called Sprint & had them block ALL texts! I have to pay for them even if I don't read them! My kids & family know I do not text...so anyone else can forget it! At least I blocked that much!

Thanks for the warning. I had heard of it but never knew anyone who actually got called. I received a check in the mail for $2300 saying I was supposed to cash it and send it back to them and they'd send me $5000. I called the bank in California and explained the situation. It was an actual account number but not for the company name on the check. I faxed them all that was sent to me. I live in NYstate. I knew no one in california,specially someone who'd send me money. You cash those checks, you go to jail for fraud. It's a crook's paradise out there to those who are unaware.
Meri

1 comment

by bevintex 04 Apr 2012

What they do is send you a check for 5,000. You cash it and send them back 3,000. Somehow you got overpaid. The you find out from the bank the check was never good and you are stuck for repayment. Scam written all over it. Be wise.

My mom had the same thing to happen to her except they told her that my dad had been hospitalized. She was so upset she left and when she realized it was a scam (dad was fine and not in the hospital) she went home to a empty house, they took everything even the alarm clocks!

OMG I hope they don't call me. I would hang up on anyone that I thought was suspicious though.

This happened in my town to an elderly woman,she went to her bank and got the funds $5,000.Then she went to the grocery store for a money order,the clerk realizing it was a scam had her get in touch with her grandson who had never been in Mexico. It's sad when these kinds of things happen, Be careful
Bev

This has been happening more & more. You'd think they'd chg their "story!" Point: be sure your family lets you know when they are going to be out of town! And NEVER send money fast like that!

yep it happened to me carolyn

They can call me, I'll just tell them , not possible, my grandson is only 4. I would be calling my family first before paying anyone anything! Please be careful, they have been doing this for a long time becasue it works unfortuately.

The same thing happened to my son in laws grandparents.Fortunately the bank teller talked them out of it. They were in a panic and only felt at ease when my son in law called them to tell them he is alright. It sounded reasonable to them since he travels a lot. This is a very popular scam right now.

When I told my son about it, he said it was a scam. He had heard about this. They are targeting Grandmothers. I had to pay right then. Only allowed a phone call. Had to be paid right then. I never got far enough to know how the payment was to be paid. I told them I had no money. Please be careful. Joyce