Woman scammed for $51, 000 - Page 3

manny2 · ‎05-24-2010

@millieshops wrote:
@RoughDraft do we know if they asked for all that money at one time or was this an ongoing scam?

she would have had to be deep into dementia not to recognize a scam of that magnitude if they started with that number

@millieshops If someone was "deep into dementia" as you said they would not have the capability to do what she did.

SeaMaiden · ‎03-10-2010

Obviously she is in some sort of dementia and should not be living on her own... she is either really stupid....or mentally impaired

Krimpette · ‎03-09-2010

I'm sorry, but I have a hard time believing this story.

millieshops · ‎03-09-2010

@manny2 I think deep was the wrong word for me to use, but from family experience with dementia, I know there are strange aspects to it. Random lucidity is one of the most difficult to deal with.

RetRN · ‎10-01-2013

@SeaMaiden wrote:
Obviously she is in some sort of dementia and should not be living on her own... she is either really stupid....or mentally impaired

You know absolutely nothing about this person, so why the nasty comment?

There is nothing funny about the scamming of the elderly. And, to say they are stupid says something about you.

MorningLover · ‎10-04-2015

ST. LOUIS (KMOV.com) -- The pandemic has turned more people into online shopping and scammers are taking advantage of this to to steal money from unsuspecting people.

An 84-year-old Jefferson County woman learned that the hard way when she lost $51,000.

"They know exactly what to say, they know how to scare you," Patricia said. She asked us to only use her first name to hide her identity. "I feel totally stupid and embarrassed to tell the story, really embarrassed, but I thought I want to help other people."

She says the scam started when she got her computer fixed and days later received a message that appeared to be from the same company."I had this little message that it was Geek Squad and I had $423 coming back," Patricia said. "We had to get into my account which I should have known."

She says the man on the phone convinced her he needed her bank information to make a deposit. Patricia says he then claimed that she made a mistake and scared her into buying him gift cards and sending him multiple wire transfers, totaling $51,000.

"It just devastated me. I worked until I was 76 years old," Patricia said. "I feel like I was totally stupid and how could I do something like that, but they were so convincing."

Patricia has since filed a police report. She says she's going a step farther and keeping her computer off and not answering any phone calls she doesn't recognize. If you don't recognize that phone number, just hang up..

Silver Lining · ‎04-16-2010

@Ainhisg wrote:
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.

Another thing scammers do. They tell the person that he/she will have to send money or gift cards which will be returned when the repair or whatever is completed.

Zhills · ‎11-15-2011

Know anyone with Dementia? "Reasoning" goes 1st!

wagirl · ‎03-09-2010

I can't help you understand--I don't understand myself----just shake my head-----there are things that are red flags -------and many questions to ask as to why she thought she should do this-----am sorry about her losing all that money----a huge learning experience----well--maybe??!!

Duckncover · ‎07-16-2021

I can't bring myself to ridicule this woman. I am sure she is devastated and could have maxed out several credit cards to buy the giftcards. I just hope they catch the scumbags who did this...but it's doubtful they will.