Help. My mom made a huge mistake on FB

[jaxs]

Sorry this happened to your parents and don't feel like mom is losing it. There are so many crooks working day and night to scam people,any of us can make a slip sooner or later.

 

[plowhog]

I hope there is a special place for people that scam old folks.

Years ago my mom misplaced her wedding ring. She thought she may have lost or left it in a local restaurant. She put an ad in the local "free" paper asking if anyone had found it.

A "truck driver," who said he was 3 states away, contacted her to let her know he had found the ring. He wanted to give it back -- but -- he needed gas money of $500 to drive his big rig back to her location.

I intervened before she sent the money. And shortly thereafter she found the ring where she had put it, but forgotten ....

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Good advice above.

I refuse to use FB messenger app, to many fakes.

 

[sree251]

Eddie let me know if you need anything. My wife is Mama Steph that works for KLTV. I will ask her if she knows of any of this happening to others. I am sure she will do all she can to help as well.

She said make sure to alert the local SS office as well. They can put a alert on her number.

What can this scammer do with the security number?

 

[sree251]

Years ago my mom misplaced her wedding ring. She thought she may have lost or left it in a local restaurant. She put an ad in the local "free" paper asking if anyone had found it.

A "truck driver," who said he was 3 states away, contacted her to let her know he had found the ring. He wanted to give it back -- but -- he needed gas money of $500 to drive his big rig back to her location.

I intervened before she sent the money. And shortly thereafter she found the ring where she had put it, but forgotten ....

Good scam. Did truck driver ask for cash?

 

[MapleLeafFarmer]

We have lived through something very similar.

First off stay strong. Most if not all of the info they asked for is likely already "out their" on the dark web for sale anyways. All will likely be OK. They are likely looking for info to sell to others not so much try and make a direct scam on you.

Do as others have suggested as soon as possible.

Best advice I can over and above is :
- do what you need to do quickly. It will take a lot of time on hold at a lot of different places. Stay strong and grind your way through it.
- change ALL your passwords using strong mixture of letters, numbers and symbols. Nothing to do with birthdays, addresses, phone numbers, etc.... as you can now assume that for today and forever that info is no longer confidential.

stay strong, grind your way through it and all should be good. Protect bank accounts first then shut down ability to get new cc's, bank transfers, etc... unless done in person and with multi layer id's.

 

[ruffdog]

Older people are easy prey for these scammers. Sometimes all it takes is to say "I'm from church and we are updating our records". Some people will spill the beans and tell them everything they ask......I know someone that did.

 

[JDZ735M]

Do this immediately, Tonight. Do not wait until tomorrow:
Also notify all CC companies & make sure there are no easy or common (across multiple accounts) passwords used...and change all passwords on email, any online accounts like Amazon, banks, etc.

 

[bunyip]

Can't offer any advice but if on the offchance you find it is Australian based we can find him and convey your regards, so to speak.

 

[RjCorazza]

All good advice, and sorry you have to deal with this. As previously mentioned, this particular scam may be the setup for other CONTINUED scams from a "susceptible person" list. Consider changing all contact information (divulged or not) like email addresses and phone number.
I suspect your mother will be a target for the foreseeable future.