SCAM WARNING: Elderly are Targets

I just finished a week's visit in Indiana with my Mom (88 years old) and I don't want anyone else to go through what she has been through the past 3+ months.  She told me on Wednesday, August 5, 2009 that she had been getting some threatening phone calls and seemed really scared.  Naturally, I jumped on a plane to be with her that night from Sarasota.  I can't remember ever hearing her sobbing like that on the phone -- AND, I never had a longer flight than the one that night.

She had been going through what police term as "psychological terrorism."  Starting on April 30, 2009, she has had an International Terrorist Organization (untraceable out of Nigeria) trying to extort money from her.  They threatened that unless she did what they said, they were going to put her in jail, kill her or worse.  So, she was terrified and followed their instructions - said nothing to anyone.  She finally became so frightened that she wouldn't answer the phone or the doorbell.  They told her that if she told anyone, they would definitely pay her and the person she told a visit.

Long story short, she lost over $18,000 by sending personal checks and Western Unions/Money Grams.  She was so embarrassed and scared that I am surprised she didn't have a 3rd stroke.   When we went to the bank and got records of all her checks and cash withdrawals, the bank tellers all told me that they thought her withdrawals were strange, but they didn't say anything to her or anyone else.  Even the people at the grocery store where she was going 2-3 times a day at the end to wire money thought it was strange, but they didn't say anything.

We have all the addresses, phone numbers and names of those who were involved -- TX, FL, Jamaica -- and nothing can be done.  Everything is fake.  They even sent her fake certified letters from the Texas Agency for the Protection of the Elderly.  I know it is fake because I called the phone number on the letter (from my cell phone) after researching it online and found it (convincingly) existed.  Then " they" started calling me on my cell -- until they figured out that I knew their game and wasn't going to play.  This is professional -- don't doubt it for a minute.

The police are getting 12-15 calls each week from the elderly about these kinds of threats, even in my little hometown.  AND, those are from the ones brave enough to report it.  If anyone you know could be vulnerable, please tell them to confess to SOMEONE -- their priest, their family, their friends -- SOMEONE.   Tell them their perpetrators are most likely out of the country, even though they can describe their homes to them exactly, thanks to Google Earth.  Many of the older generations don't realize how technology has changed and how much we can see and do anywhere in the world because of computers.

It is criminal (literally and figuratively) what people will do for money.  Please, please -- call your loved ones and warn them.  I talk to my Mom practically every day -- and the days I don't, she gets a message from me.  I never noticed the change in her demeanor even after daily conversations for the past 3+ months.  If they don't tell you,  you may never know.  Until it is too late.