Community Chat

[Goodie2shoes]

I'm not sure if I should feel sorry for her or not but it's sad that people can get taken so easily.  Help me understand it please. So the news here reports a elderly woman got a call from the "Geek Squad" (they had her on TV back to the camera and no name given because she reported being so embarassed that this happened to her) The "Geek Squad" told her there was something wrong with her computer and she needed to shut it down but to fix it they needed her to send them GIFT CARDS and she obliged and sent them a little over $51,000. Now she is just devastated and embrassed that she sent them money she worked hard for over the years and planned to enjoy her retirement with. The first phrase  that came to my mind  was "you can't fix stupid"  She filed a police report but you know she will never get any of her money back. I will say I am sorry she went through this terrible thing and hope the scammer gets whats coming to him or her !

[RoughDraft]

$51,000 to REPAIR her computer and she didn't think that was strange? 

[Snowpuppy]

Some people live their cul de sac life in their La Z Boy and never want to experience anything else. They do as they are told with no questions.

It had to have taken her days or weeks to access that kind of cash and buy those cards. Most have a small upper limit.

[scatcat]

Who sold her $51k in gift cards?

This scam has been going on for many years and all major stores are on the look out for excessive gift card buying.

 A woman I know bought $1k in gift cards at the local grocery store.  When she came back for another $1k the manager stopped her and told her she was being scammed.

[Goodie2shoes]

@RoughDraftwrote: $51,000 to REPAIR her computer and she didn't think that was strange? 

Isn't that crazy ??? wouldn't you think she would have questioned that?? The darn computer didn't cost that much !!!  She was a elderly lady, she could only say she was so embarassed and just wanted to warn others. Sad !!

[SandySparkles]

Bless her heart! My heart goes out to her.❤ Her capacity to reason is certainly impaired, but I hope that her story will help prevent others from becoming victims of this predatory scam.😐

~~~All we need is LOVE💖

[Pook]

She could have just got a new computer - why pay $51,000 to fix the one she had?  Who pays for anything with gift cards ?

[Cakers3]

@Goodie2shoes 

She did repair her computer for $400+ and the next day received a called from the "Geek Squad" telling her she was due a refund.  Since the call came from the repair shop (or so she thought) she thought the call was legit.

She hesitated but gave her bank info so that the refund could be deposited.

Then she was told a mistake was made and had to send gift cards to give the $$ back. 

The $51,000 was not all gift cards; there were wire transfers for cash, too.

At least she came forward to warn others and I would think Geek Squad and the repair shop would want to know how somebody was able to obtain that info, too.

Unless it was an employee, this repair shop was obviously hacked, too.

[Ainhisg]

My mom had a college degree and taught school for 40 years--very intelligent woman. She kept a journal, and one time, she wrote about my niece calling and needing money wired to her down in Florida, because she was in jail. Oldest scam in the book. But as my mom got older, her reasoning abilities decreased as she was starting to get mild cognitive impairment. Thank goodness she didn't know how to wire money, but she actually believed it was her granddaughter. I just happened to stumble upon the entry when I was out there cleaning her house. So the lady in the story may be starting to lose some of her mental faculties. It's easy to judge people, but when you've had a loved one get into (or almost get into) a situation like this, it's easy to see how it could happen.