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[disneyknut]

Actually I need your help for my Aunt.. She is 76 years old & has a myraid of health problems (heart diesase, diabetes) & has been pestered for several months by a scam targeting the elderly..

In August she received a phone call from a representative from the "social security administration" informing her that she over paid for her medicines by $200 odd dollars.. they would issue a refund to her checking account & they needed her account number & routing #.. she readily gave it & they hung up..

As soon as she hung up she knew she did something wrong & immediately called her bank who froze her account AND issued her a new checking account.. problem solved, right? WRONG!!!

Ever since then she has been inundated with calls several times a week with the SAME scenario.. she started by being rude & telling them to bug off.. but they just get rude right back & keep calling for over an hour!!

She then started telling them they had the wrong number & they still didn't disuade them.. they keep calling back ..
she also asked if she could call them back & they gave her a bogus number & then called HER back.. she asked to speak to a supervisor & another person got on the phone..

She has called SS admin & they told her they can't do anything for her to just hang up on the people.. she also called the phone co who said they numbers are probably frokm a phone card so untraceable & for her to change her number.. she doesn't want to do that as she's had the same number for over 50 years

any advice/suggestions would be appreciated.. she knows now not to give out ANY information but they continue to call.. every time they call she calls me upset. .more so, at herself for letting this happen but also frustrated..

anyone know of any good comebacks she can say to these people to stop them in their tracks? & any govt agency ( or anything she can call to get this reported?? I've done some research online & the advice is to simply hang up.. but gosh that's frustrating to do several times weekly for over an hour..

I told her that you guys could probably come up with some good comebacks for her to use.. I originally told her to play with them a little; act real feeble & hard of hearing "What did you say, honey... you want my medicine? yes i'm taking my medicine, thanks for calling!"
or to give a fake number, & the funniest I could come up with is to engage them in conversation " I was just watching price is right, do you watch it?"

If nothing else, you guys can help me give her a laugh over this situation with your witty comebacks!!

[McMickey]

I think she should tell them that Mrs. {Aunt's Name} has been sent to jail for Social Security Fraud.

Or, she could use my grandmother's tactic: blow a whistle in their ear as loud as she can! (Coincidentally, my grandmother stopped receiving most phone calls shortly after discovering her "blow the whistle" technique.)

I can't imagine how someone can take advantage of older folks. I hope they like the heat...

[Tigger1221]

As far as I know the phone company should be able to run a trace on the line for her. Even though they may not be able to do anything, at least she is going through the steps.

It really disturbs me that there are ao many sick people who pray on the elderly.

The things I would say I can not repeat, this is a family board after all.

She could also play the hard of hearing game. When they ask is so and so there they she could just keep going what.... who is this..... hello is any one there...... hello....
You get it, they will most likely just end up hanging up.

Good luck to our Aunt.

[JaimeandChad]

[img]/ubb/images/graemlins/fairy2.gif[/img] to her at least she caught in time...

The whistle idea is a really good one, another is to contact the local news. The local news does stories on this but they can research it farther to see if they can "find" the people responsible.
[img]/ubb/images/graemlins/luck.gif[/img]

[ariel14]

I like the whistle idea. If she doesn't like this idea, how about caller id? If it came up as unavailable or a # that she didn't recognize, she would not have to answer and she wouldn't worry that she missed an important phone call.

[DrDolphin]

I think the caller id idea is good; followed closely by the whistle (or combined with the caller id). That would also give her the number they are calling from and she can block those calls.

[Lumieregirl]

I had a similar situation a while back and two things worked for me:

I got a whistle - like a coach's whistle and kept it by the phone and when they started, I'd just give it a nice long blow.

If they asked for me, I'd just say "I'm sorry, she passed away." and hang up.

After about a week, the calls stopped.

[LizardCop]

Caller ID and an answering machine.

If it's someone who really needs to talk to her they can leave a message or talk so she can pick up, otherwise, let them talk to the machine...

[mrsmac2001]

I like the whistle idea.

[Mouseketeer]

I wouldn't even talk to those people, just hang up on them the minute they start their spiel. I think the idea of the whistle is great, although I would worry they'd keep calling back to harass her.

I definitely recommend caller ID, and also register her number on the Do Not Call list. We hardly ever get any sales calls, and when a number shows up as unavailable I don't answer the phone. If it's important they can leave a message on my voice mail.

Lynda

[disneyprincess]

What about the police? Is there anything they can do? I can't believe that the telephone co. or social security wont'/can't do anything!

[RobDVC]

Caller ID is a definite start... it costs a couple bucks a month, but at least she'll know who's calling and be able to decide whether or not to pick up the phone. I'm sure it's probably the same people who almost got the information the first time trying to catch her off guard again. I'd have her contact the police to see if there's anything else that can be done.

[jimmymac]

Another vote for caller ID

[KrisLuvsDisney]

I agree with Bill on the caller ID and the answering machine!

[Pamajama]

I agree with the caller ID and answering machine. However, if she is up for having a little fun with them. Tell her to start singing into the phone when they call. I have found that the Star Spangle Banner, Danny Boy and Happy Birthday work well. (Out of key of course)

Once they know they are not getting under her skin, they may stop.

Good luck!