RSKY
Veteran Member
- Joined
- Oct 5, 2003
- Messages
- 2,475
- Tractor
- Kioti CK20S
This is a Facebook post from a friend of my wife. Her husband was buried last week. I blocked out the phone number.
This makes me very angry.
She posted:
The ultimate low in scam activity was aimed at me Friday. The phone rang and on caller ID appeared 'U S Government' and a toll-free number. When I answered, a woman identified herself as 'Sue Lopez' and said she was calling on behalf of the VA to express her sincere condolences. She asked me to write her name down in case I needed to talk to her any time in the future. She also indicated that the call was being recorded. She asked if I had received their packet that needed to be filled out and returned. I told her no, and she said some of the paperwork could be started by phone. She expressed what seemed to be genuine concern about getting things started so survivor benefits could begin and I wouldn't be left with no income to live on. She spent almost half an hour talking with me about Woody, using information that I later realized could be easily found on line in his obituary. For the first half of the conversation I must admit, I was convinced of her sincerity. She started talking about a VA life insurance policy that named me as the primary beneficiary with Melissa Graves, our daughter, as the secondary. Then she said as she was checking Woody's computer records she had discovered that he had failed to pay the monthly premiums for almost two and a half years. She asked me to hold the line while she checked with the insurance company to see if they would let me pay the amount owed so that the full policy benefit could be paid to me. She came back on the line after a few minutes and said they would let me do that but it needed to be done immediately. She then started talking about the need for me to immediately purchase a 'RELOAD IT' card from Wells Fargo, Citibank, etc. after saying that the Murray Bank did not offer this service. When I told her I needed to verify this information she became quite irate. She said she had spent over half an hour trying to help me and she was highly insulted that I would question her intentions. At this point I hung up on her. Within minutes the phone rang again. This time the number that showed up on caller ID was 270-XXX-XXXX and J H Churchill Funeral Home. When I answered, a man told me he was calling from the funeral home. He asked me if I had just hung up on a government official who was trying her best to assist me. My reply was that I had indeed just hung up on somebody! He tried to assure me that it was a legitimate call and that I had been extremely rude to this nice lady but he would intercede for me so we could go ahead and get the insurance policy reinstated. I then asked him his name. After a slight pause, he said "James". I then asked what his last name was. He came up with some name that started with 'H'. I proceeded to inform him that I knew every person who worked at J H Churchill Funeral Home and he wasn't one of them. I then tore into him, letting him know in no uncertain terms that he and his ilk were low-life's of the worst order trying to prey on a vulnerable newly widowed spouse of a disabled veteran. And then I hung up on him. A moment later the phone rang again with the caller ID reporting another call from J H Churchill Funeral Home. When I picked up the phone, this lowlife yelled in my ear "B****!" I have been to the funeral home to make them aware of this travesty. Needless to say, they were horrified. How these crooks can 'hijack' legitimate numbers needs to be investigated and these people need to be prosecuted. I shudder to think what might happen to an even more elderly, vulnerable widow who could easily be 'sucked in' by these evil people. Please share this information to help protect other potential victims.
This makes me very angry.
She posted:
The ultimate low in scam activity was aimed at me Friday. The phone rang and on caller ID appeared 'U S Government' and a toll-free number. When I answered, a woman identified herself as 'Sue Lopez' and said she was calling on behalf of the VA to express her sincere condolences. She asked me to write her name down in case I needed to talk to her any time in the future. She also indicated that the call was being recorded. She asked if I had received their packet that needed to be filled out and returned. I told her no, and she said some of the paperwork could be started by phone. She expressed what seemed to be genuine concern about getting things started so survivor benefits could begin and I wouldn't be left with no income to live on. She spent almost half an hour talking with me about Woody, using information that I later realized could be easily found on line in his obituary. For the first half of the conversation I must admit, I was convinced of her sincerity. She started talking about a VA life insurance policy that named me as the primary beneficiary with Melissa Graves, our daughter, as the secondary. Then she said as she was checking Woody's computer records she had discovered that he had failed to pay the monthly premiums for almost two and a half years. She asked me to hold the line while she checked with the insurance company to see if they would let me pay the amount owed so that the full policy benefit could be paid to me. She came back on the line after a few minutes and said they would let me do that but it needed to be done immediately. She then started talking about the need for me to immediately purchase a 'RELOAD IT' card from Wells Fargo, Citibank, etc. after saying that the Murray Bank did not offer this service. When I told her I needed to verify this information she became quite irate. She said she had spent over half an hour trying to help me and she was highly insulted that I would question her intentions. At this point I hung up on her. Within minutes the phone rang again. This time the number that showed up on caller ID was 270-XXX-XXXX and J H Churchill Funeral Home. When I answered, a man told me he was calling from the funeral home. He asked me if I had just hung up on a government official who was trying her best to assist me. My reply was that I had indeed just hung up on somebody! He tried to assure me that it was a legitimate call and that I had been extremely rude to this nice lady but he would intercede for me so we could go ahead and get the insurance policy reinstated. I then asked him his name. After a slight pause, he said "James". I then asked what his last name was. He came up with some name that started with 'H'. I proceeded to inform him that I knew every person who worked at J H Churchill Funeral Home and he wasn't one of them. I then tore into him, letting him know in no uncertain terms that he and his ilk were low-life's of the worst order trying to prey on a vulnerable newly widowed spouse of a disabled veteran. And then I hung up on him. A moment later the phone rang again with the caller ID reporting another call from J H Churchill Funeral Home. When I picked up the phone, this lowlife yelled in my ear "B****!" I have been to the funeral home to make them aware of this travesty. Needless to say, they were horrified. How these crooks can 'hijack' legitimate numbers needs to be investigated and these people need to be prosecuted. I shudder to think what might happen to an even more elderly, vulnerable widow who could easily be 'sucked in' by these evil people. Please share this information to help protect other potential victims.
