OT- MIL almost got scammed

My wife's mother is 82 and still pretty lucid and active. She normally doesn't answer the phone, letting it go to her voice recorder, but for some reason she answered this call. It was from a man who said that the manufacturer of windows they bought was going out of business and they had a refund of $300 for her and needed her bank account numbers to deposit the money. This is where it gets fuzzy in her account of the matter... she said she didn't give them any info and they hacked her bank accounts. We think she did give up enough info so they could clean her out and is too embarrassed to tell us that and was quite upset when she called us. I've been on her recently and constantly to not disclose anything to anyone that calls but she must have had a "senior moment". They did buy windows when they built the home she lives in now, but that was 30 yrs. ago.

We surmise she gave them the info then realized what she had done and called the bank and the Sheriff. The bank got everything stopped and froze her accounts. The bank closed the old accounts and they assigned new numbers. My wife is a signatory on them so she has to go in and re-sign some documents for the new accounts. The Sheriff deputy came out and took a report and said there had been a rash of these scam calls where seniors got taken. The banks are on alert for any large transfers of money also.

I told my wife that I'm going to "take her keys away" if this keeps up. We can't afford to keep her and pay her bills, so she has to protect what money she has, even if it means we take over all her finances.

Many people would rather not worry about those bills and let someone else handle it.

You may need to contact Social Security and become a "Representative Payee" or whatever it is
called. I did that for my dad and he was more than happy to not have to remember to pay the
bills. He only wanted to see them when they came in.

Now with her phone, contact the phone company and block any calls from out of the country and
block any toll free numbers and/or most area codes. I had a friend who's dad "invested" their
life savings on them delivering the sweepstakes prize. I am talking over a million bucks.

Never underestimate what these scammers can do.

The problem is if they (the senior parent) have the numbers for the accounts, it doesn't matter who the signatory is or who has control of them. All they need to do is give out those account numbers to a scammer, and the money is gone.

When my wife died I had plenty of scam calls. Even had the ones that were going to sue me if I didn't pay them. Had the same thing happen when mom died. People calling for things I knew she never ordered. She had the same thing happen when dad died. Amazing what scammers can find out.

Funny story about Mom. Her and dad were real good friends of the Ranger and Sheriff. One day a guy showed up trying to collect money from mom. For items he said dad had ordered. About that time the Ranger and two Sheriff deputies stopped by just to check on her and visit. Mom said the man turned as white as a man could. They let the man go after a long talk. Mom always got a laugh about the whole thing. Telling everyone she was protected. Funny thing all the scam calls stopped.

(quoted from post at 15:10:51 02/28/18) The problem is if they (the senior parent) have the numbers for the accounts, it doesn't matter who the signatory is or who has control of them. All they need to do is give out those account numbers to a scammer, and the money is gone.

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Excellent point. I think at this point my MIL is sufficiently embarrassed to not do that any time soon. We'll have to keep a close eye on her however. She has a bit of financial insecurity since my FIL died her income was cut in half and he didn't have enough life insurance to cover the balance due on a motor home they bought. She's underwater on it big time and can't sell it for anywhere near what she owes, she's making the payment but doesn't allow much extra for anything.

A lady I work with had to take over her mothers accounts totally and take her credit cards and computer away because she wouldn't stop sending money to scammers. She lost something like $100,000 before my co-worker got her stopped. She even had the police come out to talk to her, didn't do any good. Her mom just gets an allowance now, no access to any other funds.

why make payments if it is under water let them repo it she is spending good money and losing they cant sue her shes broke

Gene If she has a home/assets they can get a judgment against her and attach the property.

w_b check and see if the loan for the motor home was insured, by that I mean I bought a large fifth wheel rv and in the deal I made them put life insurance on it and if anything happens to me my wife do's not have to worry about paying it off or having it repoed. any loan or purchase that size should be insured so a spouse or family is not left on the hook. give the dealer a call w_b and see if it was insured?

Not funny WB but friend had one that claimed he was due thousands of dollars and needed all this account info to pay him. (and collect his small fee) Friend told him to just deduct what he owed him and mail a check!!! Never did get the check or hear from him again!!! Now you may have to talk to the bank and change accounts like double signature or keep the credit card and pay her bills for her.

I bought a business in 1988. I bought the corporation and it's assets. The person I bought it from I will call Mr. A. Mr. A bought it from the estate of Mr. B. Mr. B had died. Shortly after I bought it, I started getting phone calls from suppliers, telling me that Mr. B had ordered supplies and they were going to ship them to me. I told them they could ship anything they wanted, but, if Mr. B ordered them, Mr. B was going to pay for them. Of course Mr. B had passed, and could not pay for anything. No one ever shipped anything to me. I was really hoping to get a bunch of free stuff.

Well that really depends on the state law and the terms of the loan. W-B would be well advised to look into the terms of the loan and potentially consider bankruptcy. She really does not need to maintain a good credit rating.

The other option is to get a loan to cover the difference and sell the motor home. It is sitting depreciating and she could cut her payments by the amount she would get from selling it, if she thinks she would be doing some corporation a dirty deal by filing for bankruptcy.

I might point out to you that every time you write a check, use a credit card or debit card, you are revealing your account numbers. Simple knowledge of an account number is simply not enough to drain that account. If that were the case, banks would not be able to keep any account secure.