Quote:
Originally Posted by Biggd
I got the Grampa scam call a few weeks ago. Guy pretending to be my grandson, wanting me to send him money to keep him out of jail. I was out walking my dog and it was real cold, otherwise I would have played along.
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My Dad fell for a variation of this 10 years ago. 'My brother' called and asked him to wire money to allow him passage out of Mexico. Dad promptly wired $5 or 6 thousand. Only, of course, it wasn't my brother. The dude called my Dad back a couple of days later saying he needed another couple grand...which Dad also wired. We caught wind of this during a visit when Dad asked why my brother was in Mexico.
I promptly filed a police report and, of course, they told me there was virtually no hope we'd ever get those dollars back. Remarkably, about a year later my Dad did recover those funds. I have no knowledge how.
After this event, we (Dad's kids) took over his financials and, along the way learned that he was bilked for $380,000 several years before (yes, you read that number correctly). But that's another story and the whole mess is still working it's way through the NY courts. Yes - 12 years running and no resolution yet.
In hindsight, we regret not becoming more involved in our Dad's finances earlier and as his age was catching up to him. If you have elderly parents, consider performing some proactive probing.