I Am at My “Wits End” with Money Scams!!

Frankly, you have tried everything you can to stop her and inform her. I would tell her now that when this comes back and bites her in the butt and she's out her $, that you are not in a financial position to help her out and leave it at that. This is a lesson that she will have to learn first hand since she clearly isn't getting it by you trying to tell her.

YOU HAVE TO STOP HER!!! If you are close by call the police department and meet her with them. Or have someone from there call her. Or tell her to at least ask at the desk at the post office.

I realize that there may not be anything the bank can do if she willingly did it, but you might call them and say, "Look, my mom got scammed and here's a head's up that it might be messy and involve you." Anybody who says you need to pay FIRST before you are awarded winnings is a SCAM.

Sigh. This may be a really expensive lesson for her to learn.

I'm really surprised that the bank took the check without at least placing a hold on the funds. I used to be a bank teller and we were well trained to spot fraudulent checks and other scams. If your mom goes through with this she will not only be out the $2000 she sent them, but she will also owe the bank the entire amount of the check back, plus fees for the returned item and any NSF fees resulting from the bad deposit. It's bad enough that your mom fell for this scam, but really irresponsible of the bank for allowing her to deposit the item and receive cash back immediately. I truly hope you can get through to her before it's too late! At the very least, you could try calling the bank to alert them of the scam. They may reverse some fees if she isn't a repeat offender, and they can place a hold on the check so that she can't access the rest of the funds.

Thank God she has YOU!!! It's disgusting how they prey on people like our parents, who are confused, need money, don't understand......

Your post is a lesson to all of us to take better care of our previous generation!

:)

What usually happens is as soon as the scammers gets her account number they start doing electronic withdrawals from her account until the money is gone. I would talk to the bank manager or the personal banker and see if they can flag her account to look for these withdrawals. Hopefully they can stop them before her account is totally depleated. I would call both government agencies and give them all the info you have on these people.
Is there a chance you can close her current account and open a new one? Or take your Mom to the bank and have her talk to the bank manager or personal banker to have them explain the scam to her.
Unfortunately with the eldery, they just don't believe that anyone would be so dishonest.

Call the bank NOW. See if one of the reps there can talk to her. Please, please do this. I worked at a bank for 10 years and I have seen this ruin people financially. If she has already gotten a cashiers check it may be to late. Normally they will only place a stop on those after 10 business days and you have to fill out an affidavit. Heck if you want me too I will talk to her. Please let me know if there is anything else I can do to help, I really do have an inside view of a banks workings.

If I were in your position, I think I'd do my best to share my own feelings, needs, and expectations as they pertain to this situation.

Something like, "Mom, you can do what you want, of course, but I am afraid for you that there will be serious financial consequences. At the very least, you will be out $2000, and if you can afford that loss, that's your choice. If you ask me to help you make up the loss, I will tell you no. I can't afford it, and have given you advance notice and plenty of warning. This is YOUR choice, not mine, and I will not accept the financial fallout."

If it helps, you might add, "But I'm afraid you won't remember that I warned you, and will end up being mad at me if I don't fix it afterward. I would hate to see that happen, because I love you."

First, I am sorry this is happening to you. Of course you are right and it is a scam. I get the emails almost daily in my spam box about being beneficiary of someone's money and all I have to do is hold the money, yeah right. I forward all the emails to the feds.

You KNOW the bank knows this is a scam. Hopefully her bank will not accept the check and tell her it is a scam.

Also, if she is unwilling to listen to you, enlist someone else to talk to her.

This is like the most common scam right now! See if you can find any news stories and show her!

A very common and obvious scam. I didn't even need to read past the first sentence to know what you were going to say. How old is your Mom? Is she able to take care of herself? Is she unwilling to listen to you because she's stubborn or is it a case of an older person not thinking clearly? If she's getting on in years and needs help with financial decisions, which it sounds like she does you might use this as an reason to step in and help her more with day to day life. If she's sending the "tax money" off right now as you say, her money is gone for sure. I would contact authorities right now, don't wait until she realizes your right, the sooner the better the chance of the losers being caught.

I would contact the FBI. If she is going through with this the FBI might want to get in on the action and try to catch these creeps. If you can get the information on when and where the money is being sent, perhaps they can track it to the scamers.

Good luck!!

How very sad. These sorts of scams are widely known to be just that. It will take a few weeks before the overseas bank (that the check she deposited is drafted on) declines payment... and then HER bank will back charge her for the withdrawal.

I wish I knew what to tell you to get her to stop.

Is there any way you can reason with her that the ONLY 'person/place' she should owe taxes is on her INCOME TAX. That those taxes (if this were legitimate) would be due to the US Government, and NOT to some person or private company...

can you call her bank and tell them what she is doing? etc? I cant beleive she is falling for this one.

Maybe telling her that you spoke to a bank would help. You can ask a bank rep--not teller but a private banker might get through to her. I work in a bank so I can tell you that federal rules (we have to follow the rules of the Federal Reserve) dictate that funds must be available to a customer immediately unless there it falls under mopney laundering guidelines. We can only place a hold on money if the amount is $10,000 or more.
Also, I believe I have read that it is actually illegal to win foreign lottery, though cannot remember exactly if it is for every country.
The check will probably bounce with in the week and then she will be out $2000 that she wired. you can only trace a wire to the final destination, not the person that actually picks it up.

Oh no, I don't know what to say, this is in fact a scam, it happens very often (or at least they try) to do it in Craigslist all the time.
Can you make a copy and show it to her, put her on the phone with the BBB?
Call this other people your self, make her call asking something?
I hope your mom believes you and don't make that mistake.
EDIT: Can you call her bank and explain what is happening, maybe they will talk to her, I am sure they know about this scam.

I would google this scam as well as all our answers, print out the information and take it over to her immediately. Tell her you just really are looking out for her and are concerned. Hopefully she will not go through with it, but if she does it will be a lesson learned ;(

What will happen is the check she deposited will come back and she will be out the money she sent. This scam has been tried many ways and on the young and old alike.

Call her bank and explain what has happened. They can verify funds and banking information. At that point they will remove the funds and notify her. Hopefully they can do this before she mails the money. If not, stop payment on the check but I would imagine they got her to send a money order or something of the like.

THIS IS A SCAM!!! There is no possible way this is not a scam. She will find that the check she deposited is bad and will have to pay that money to the bank. Try to stop her. Can you drive and intercept her? Can you put the money back in her account? THIS IS A SCAM!!!

Don't waste time with the BBB or any of those numbers. JUST STOP HER!

Stop her now. This has been happening for years.

It happens on Craig's List all the time. My sister laughed like crazy when some guy wanted to buy her rocking chair but was going to pay a ton of money to ship it yet his "moeny advisor" made the check out for the wrong amount and she was suppose to return the extra "funds."

She will NEVER see that money ever again. :( It's all done overseas at internet cafes.

It IS a scam...it's classic. You have to go stop here now. Call the police and see if they can help intervene.

And, call the bank to stop payment on the check she is sending to them. Hopefully, if you explain, they won't give you any 'privacy' hassles. If you fail in stopping her, then you won't have any obligation to help clean it up. You can report it to the police but she'll be out her 2 grand. I would only be sympathetic and reluctantly give her a "I told you so."

Good luck.

I would talk to an attorney or legal aid to find out how to protect your mom. It may be time for someone to step in and be in charge of her finances. You don't say how old your mom is or if she is showing other signs of losing her judgment, but this may be the beginning of her need for more help. Since you know you'll be the one to clean it all up when this falls through, I'd look into what you can do before she lose all of her money.

I feel your pain! We are going through this with my uncle right now! It's time for some tough love. Tell her that since she is on SS, that she is wasting the tax dollars of hardworking Americans by trying to get rich quick on a scam.
She will do what she wants, but DON'T be the one who helps her clean it up. I hope she realizes after this that you are not negative, but you are just trying to protect her!

She should talk to the banker, who will tell her that the check won't clear and she'll be out the money she is sending. She should also talk to the police department. Elder Services also runs programs to protect seniors. Anytime you have to pay money to receive money, it's a scam. Good luck getting through to her.

Oh! I have heard of this scam because it happened to someone near where I live. The fact that she already cashed the "check" is going to be her biggest problem. If I remember correctly these checks don't actually clear and the money will be pulled back from her account. They have you take the check to the bank and cash it so you can send them a portion of the money back. You do that and then after a couple of days find out that the check didn't clear. They have gotten their share of the money and you will not be able to contact them to get it back. Your bank will hold you responsible for the now overdraft account.
Can you print out some info and show her proof or get the local police department to talk to her. She really shouldn't spend this money because it isn't real.
I'm so sorry this is happening to you both. I wish she could find it in her heart to listen to you. She is headed down a rough road.

honestly, i know you love your mom and have her best interest at heart, but this may be one that you have to let her learn the hard way. she;s not listening to you even though you have told and showed her that something about this is not right,( and it isnt) and she still is not listening. if you don;t have the money to help her out of this jam why try. let her mearn. don't pay they money back for her but still help her in other ways, because i believe you are correct in assuming this will fall through when it;s "over with". best of luck to you and your mom.

Tell her to WAIT!!!! You could tell her "I could be wrong mom, and if it's real won't that be awesome? BUT you should wait for the check to clear before sending in the money for taxes... that way you will still have money."

Or maybe you could call her, then party line one of the numbers that the BBB gave you, and FORCE (well, unless she hangs up on you...) her to listen!!

ALL of these transactions are scams... why don't you go on snopes.com or look on google for an article on this, they are everywhere. Go with her to the bank and the banker can explain to her. After all of this and uif she still does it.. don't bail her out. She needs to learn the hard way.

This exact same thing happened to my great uncle, and he was totally scammed. Is some international sweepstakes claiming she won this? It's a common scam against the elderly. He ended up losing I don't know how much money to the scammers. We contacted the attorney general, but once the money is gone, it's gone, and there is little they can do to help at that point.I hope you show her these responses, and maybe that will change her mind. BTW- My uncle ended up passing away with debts from this whole debacle. It was a nightmare.

Stop her any way you can, this is one of the oldest scams in the book.

It will affect her credit not yours. Maybe you could get someone she "trusts" to talk to her about these scams. She must not be "right" in the head if she believed THAT particular one.. omg. Maybe you should talk to her doctor?

I feel really badly saying this but if you TOLD her so, then maybe this is a lesson she needs to learn the hard way. I hate that she is taken advantage of (that's why these schemes exist), but you've already tried to bail her out.

Those money scammers target older people (60s and up) and they do it bc it works. Your mom is crazy! What is she thinking????!!!!!

Please have your mother wait to send the $2000.00 until the check "clears" into her bank account (it won't). It is probably a fake check in which she will be responsible for all the fees for the check not clearing and be responsible for the $2000.00 that she has already paid out. Meanwhile, whoever received the money in England is $2000.00 richer. Please have her wait the 7-10 days just to see if it bounces.

A similar thing happened to me in a Craigslist scam. I went to the bank that the check looked like it had been drawn from. The tellers were able to immediately tell me it was a fake check and that there was no viable account corresponding to it. The check looked completely legit. Had I cashed it at my bank I would have been out of a lot of money. If it sounds too good to be true, then it usually is.

Thank you for looking out for your Mom. She is definitely in the demographic for money scams, but everyone needs to look out for them.

OOOH MAN!!! The people who come with these things!! Man - firing squad for all of them.

The best thing you can do is inform your mom. If this happens again? I would check with your state to see if you can get her ruled as incompetent and take over her money for her so that this doesn't happen again to her - because next time it will be worse....

Google 20/20 or Dateline NBC for money scams and you can have your mom watch them....there was a women who lost $100K to these people.

If she won't listen to you - ensure that you're not on ANY of her credit cards, loans, bank accounts, etc. so that you aren't dragged down with this.

GOOD LUCK!

say "ok i will go to the bank with you"........when you go to the bank with her ask to speak to the manager & tell them the situation, they hopefully will talk sense into her & if not then you know that you did everything you could & wipe your hands clean of this scam........I really cannot believe people fall for these things, makes me sick