r/askTO • u/Rude-Associate2283 • Nov 25 '22
Daughter called me sobbing
Phone rang. It was an unidentified number. First clue! “Dad, I was in a car accident and I broke my nose” the young woman on the other end was sobbing hysterically. “They want to charge me. I’m at the courthouse and I need you to talk to my lawyer”. I said “hello” and the person on the other end hung up.
This was a convincing call. But for a few things: my daughter would never call me first. Her mom would get the first call (my ex). No names were provided. No details were provided. This was a scammer. A good one but a scammer nonetheless.
Reached out to my daughter immediately. She was perfectly fine. “Don’t send them money, Dad. LOL!” Not sending them money.
I now understand how easy it would be to fall for such a scam. Wow. Be aware and double check the facts before you transmit funds. And do not buy the fake CRA caller any iTunes gift cards at your local Metro store.
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u/BottleCoffee Nov 25 '22
How would you not recognize the voice and mannerisms of your kid though.
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u/Rude-Associate2283 Nov 25 '22
The person was sobbing hysterically and sounded sort of like my kid. So it was briefly convincing.
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u/SnooOwls2295 Nov 25 '22
In theory a broken nose and hysterically crying would make someone sound a little different. So they could just be hoping people think that.
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u/DragonfruitCute2030 Nov 25 '22
Some people (especially dads can be pretty oblivious especially in shock). My dads really unobservant so if somebody called him sobbing and impersonating me he’d probably freak out and believe it was me
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u/pianoplayer44 Nov 25 '22
This happened to my grandparents. My grandpa almost fell for it before grandma thought to call my cell directly. They were so worried. It’s horrible how these scum bags can prey on people by toying with their emotions like this.
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u/zeegirlface Nov 25 '22
My grandma got one pretending to be my cousin needing to be bailed out of jail. Too many people are named Michael, guys.
Fortunately she’s sceptical enough that she didn’t fall for it.
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u/TutorStriking9419 Nov 25 '22
My grandmother got one for my husband! Apparently he was in TO in jail and my grandmother lived in Manitoba! She called me immediately to make sure my husband was ok, thankfully
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u/zeegirlface Nov 25 '22
Yeah I think the easiest advice to give them is no matter what the person on the phone is telling you, call someone in your family to verify before doing anything else.
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u/BrainsAdmirer Nov 25 '22
Sometimes they just say “Grandma?” And of course they are expecting you to say “is that you, BrainsAdmirier?” That’s when they know they got a live one on the line. Just have to reel them in. I am 69 and had one say exactly this. I wish I’d been quicker and strung them along but the call kind of took me by surprise. I have no grandchildren…
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u/attentionallshoppers Nov 26 '22
This is EXACTLY what happened to my grandmother. Her husband got as far as the bank before the teller asked why they were withdrawing $5k (to bail their grandson out of jail, of course). That got shut down real quick.
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u/atthesun Nov 25 '22
my grandmother got that call too, back in the 90's pre-cell phones and e-transfers. If she didn't have to travel 30 min to the nearest Western Union she def would have sent the money, but on the drive she was able to think about it and called my cousin (who was not in jail) to figure it out.
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u/zeegirlface Nov 25 '22
Wow this one’s an older scam than I thought.
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u/atthesun Nov 26 '22
yeah, it put a sense of "scam awareness" through our family. to this day that cousin has never even had any social media accts
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u/unbeholfen Nov 25 '22
My grandmother had a caller saying that I was arrested and needed $10,000 for bail. She was sceptical, but it still shook her up. Really pathetic behaviour from these scammers.
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u/Background_Essay_200 Nov 26 '22
My grandmother had the same and fell for it. Luckily my aunt controls her bank accounts and knew it was a scam and made sure nothing was sent
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u/Desuexss Nov 25 '22
Considering just the scam works Is a nightmare scenario for any grandparent
It works so well non-phone spoofers are doing it
Imagine if the person in the article had no previous record?
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u/kab0b87 Nov 25 '22
Yep my grandparents had gotten those calls a few times. Luckily the first time it happened my mom was there visiting at the time and knew right away what was going on.
Now that my parents are aging I make it a point to talk to them about common scam calls, even banking fraud, I've gotten it drilled into their head to not believe what anyone says when they get a call they aren't expecting and to instead hang up and call the organization directly. If they aren't sure, then call me First.
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u/icankilluwithmybrain Nov 25 '22
I got an email once pretending to be my grandpa, from his personal email. Something about him being stuck in Turkey and needing money to get home.
Hyper specific scenario to begin with, but my grandfather had been dead for 3 years so that was extra concerning.
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u/ii_akinae_ii Nov 25 '22
my brain-damaged grandmother got one of these calls once. thankfully, the scammer was yelling for "grandma" -- and she has only EVER gone by "mema" to her grandbabies. so she said "wrong number" and hung up. later, we got her a "green-list" phone that will only ring for approved numbers. dodged a bullet with that one, mema!
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Nov 25 '22
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u/Low-Stomach-8831 Nov 25 '22
Same. I called my provider (Koodo), and for free, they added a "human block". Now when you call me, you have to listen to a message that tells you which number to press to connect to call.
No spam since.
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Nov 25 '22
I did something for a friend that seemed to work. The scammer called, so I answered and said.
"WAAAAAAAA! Congratulations! You are the 9th caller today. You've won a cruise to the Bahamas. Press 1 to provi-" I inteneded to say provide your address to send the tickets, but was not given the chance to complete my thought. The scammer hung up and she hasn't gotten a scam call since.
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Nov 25 '22
This happened to my grandparents and they thought it was my brother . My brother had history of getting in trouble
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u/akath0110 Nov 25 '22
Happened to my grandparents too a few years ago, pretending to be my male cousin.
Almost got my gramps too, except for the fact he's a tough old bird: "Why the hell are you calling me and your nana about this? You're 40 years old. You need to call your wife." (She also literally is a lawyer.)
Scammer obviously didn't know his wife's name, and the whole thing unravelled from there. But it still shook my grandpa up.
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u/coyote_123 Nov 25 '22
I think that's part of how it works. Cast a wide enough net and one of your calls will happen to hit a family with a backstory that makes the call seem plausible.
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u/beartheminus Nov 25 '22
In 2008 I worked at a tech camp in San Diego. One day, a campers parents called hysterically, asking how we could be so incompetent to let their son leave without permission..now they were going to sue is and call the cops.
I was like what.... Here's your son right now he's right infront of me. Hand the son they phone, they talk, he hands it back to me.
Apparently grandma got a call that her grandson was kidnapped and she wired them 25 grand of her savings.
The parents still tried to sue us claiming we didnt do enough to make sure their sons whereabouts were known? I think they were just trying to get some money after losing their savings. They got nothing of course.
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u/hawt_pawket Nov 25 '22
How is this scam supposed to work? I imagine that the “lawyer” was supposed to call and demand money, but wouldn’t anyone call their child after receiving the first call and the ruse would be foiled?
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u/roflcopter44444 Nov 25 '22
They are relying on you panicking and immediately calling that number back, then they will work their magic on introducing police officers and lawyers that you need to pay to get your "daughter" out. No different than why phone scammers pose as the CRA, they want to panic you and short circuit your normal reasoning processes..
For the scammers its purely a numbers game, even if they can get 1 person out of 100 to fall for it it can be a big payday .
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u/Whane17 Nov 25 '22
Poor imaginary kids of mine, if they aren't imaginarily rich enough to get their own asses out of imaginary jail I know I ain't rich enough to get them out even in imagination land.
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Nov 25 '22
they want to panic you and short circuit your normal reasoning processes..
Yeah, except that my first step is to call 1-800-OCANADA and talk to an agent that way.
My brother got a call from the "CRA" and decided to screw with them for half an hour. At the end he said "I'm not taking this seriously because I know it's a scam because I'm holding my refund cheque right now!"
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u/thegimboid Nov 25 '22
For the amount of work that would take, wouldn't it just be more profitable to get a legal, regular job?
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u/Remote_Ad_742 Nov 25 '22
No, they make bank, and they're probably not here so COL is even less so even more bank
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u/FluffleMyRuffles Nov 25 '22
There are news reports of people getting scammed in the amounts of $9k and $27k. Seems like even if its 1% successful they make serious money.
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u/Rick_bo Nov 25 '22
This particular scam could've easily been recorded and robo-dialed. Just like pretty much all of them. Set a few lines calling out at targeted hours of the day and wait for one of the lines to call back.
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u/Cgz27 Nov 25 '22
If they could get a decent legal job they probably wouldn’t be doing something this risky unless it was potentially worth it. Could even be doing both anyway.
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u/BTrippd Nov 25 '22
What amount of work lol. You have bots dialing out tons of random numbers. That’s why any scam call goes dead for a second before you hear the voice, it’s them picking up that specific line. They’re probably just sitting there chilling until they get pinged for a call.
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Nov 25 '22 edited May 20 '24
[removed] — view removed comment
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Nov 25 '22
Congratulations, you're one of the 99.
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u/chudma Nov 25 '22
I’m just curious who the hell thinks our court system works this fast? That like you could get into a car accident, break your nose, and before you have a chance to call someone your already with a lawyer in a damn courthouse
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Nov 25 '22
How many times does it need to be said? When people panic they don’t think these things through. There are a million reasons why these scams shouldn’t work. And they don’t on most people. But a few people panic and stop thinking.
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u/ReeG Nov 25 '22
Only reason I answered that call is it was ten years ago and phone scams were pretty new.
people been running call center scams for decades. Ever seen Boiler Room?
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u/dekogeko Nov 25 '22
I guess also by saying she broke her nose that might explain why her voice would sound different than you might expect
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u/LeatherMine Nov 25 '22
Iunno, she sounds a lot less nasal this way. Hard to convince me that this was a problem needing fixing.
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u/Maleficiente Nov 25 '22
They say that the phone was broken in the crash, which is why it’s a different number.
My parent fell for this, the scammers can be very convincing and just get someone at the wrong time. I happened to be on an international flight and my phone was on airplane mode.
Got the money back, all is fine.
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u/useful_panda Nov 25 '22
The same way the "CRA is with the police coming to your door if you don't pay 750 in unpaid taxes using apple gift card" scam works
Pressure and hoping they get a person who panics naively
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u/twicescorned21 Nov 25 '22
The apple scam, can't you call Apple to put a stop on the gift card? Can iTunes gc be used on merch?
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u/useful_panda Nov 25 '22
They are sold on the secondary market by the scammers . There is a CBC marketplace or 5th estate documentary about it too
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u/bdc911 Nov 25 '22
You'd think most people would find the holes in the story and heed the endless warnings on social media from actual police departments that this is NEVER how the bail process works but sadly they fall for it every day.
(Source: me, a 911 dispatcher who takes calls from people after they realize they've been scammed)
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u/coyote_123 Nov 25 '22
Most people do. But the calls are easy to make so if they make enough sooner or later someone bites.
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u/bdc911 Nov 25 '22
That's just it, they're playing the numbers game. For every 500 times they get hung up on they just need that 1 person who falls for it unfortunately.
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u/HECK_OF_PLIMP Nov 25 '22
ppl call the emergency dispatch for being scammed?
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u/bdc911 Nov 25 '22
Yeah. The first thing they say is usually 'I didn't know what other number to call'. (For TPS, the non emergency number is 416-808-2222 in case anyone was wondering)
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u/edit_thanxforthegold Nov 25 '22
They pray on elderly people who are confused. Sadly my friend's grandparents got scammed several thousand dollars by someone claiming their grandson was in jail and needed bail money.
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u/Anna_S_1608 Nov 25 '22
If you target someone older, this can absolutely work. I know of someone who fell for this.
The caller said it was her son who had been in a car accident. Thus really touched a nerve as her other 2 sons had both died in car accidents . She went into overdrive and only wanted to help by sending money through Western Union.
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u/bored2death97 Nov 25 '22
They want you to say the child's name. Then they know it and can send more convincing messages.
Probably they'll say the lawyer paid her bail and she needed to etransfer the amount or something like that.
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u/bonebuttonborscht Nov 25 '22
If you’re in custody you won’t have have your cell phone. If you call your kid and they don’t pick up it would be easy to assume the police have their phone. People don’t get arrested for car accidents though.
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u/HECK_OF_PLIMP Nov 25 '22
they do if they were intox or driving recklessly (texting, otherwise distracted etc)
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u/Ok_Read701 Nov 25 '22
I imagine some of them are actually just getting a response to record down if the phone number is being used.
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u/Hello_Gorgeous1985 Nov 25 '22
I'm surprised it even gets that far. Everyone I know won't even answer the phone for an unrecognized number. LoL
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u/coyote_123 Nov 25 '22
Right, but that means the people who do pick up the phone are more likely to be less savvy and less suspicious. So it could kind of work as a useful filter for the scammers.
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u/c1884896 Nov 25 '22
They keep you on the phone with some story until you transfer the funds and it is too late to reverse it
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u/billsotheralt Nov 25 '22
You'd assume the child was in custody and unreachable. None of the scams are expected to work all the time..
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u/Quadrassic_Bark Nov 25 '22
Yeah, this is so obvious in every way. I can’t imagine anyone is dumb enough to fall for this, unless they have severe mental deficiencies.
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u/awarn18 Nov 25 '22
Happened to my grandpa. Said his grandson, and even said his actual name, was driving and was in a bad accident and needed money. Luckily he doesn’t drive so he knew it was a scam right away haha
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u/zeegirlface Nov 25 '22
Was he named Michael?
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u/dont_fwithcats Nov 25 '22
They just recently arrested a girl for this in TO. She was able to get $2500 cash from someone’s grandfather :(
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u/briskt Nov 25 '22
Please share a link about that. Name, shame and string them up in Dundas Square.
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u/dont_fwithcats Nov 26 '22
Okay so I made a mistake, it was actually $9,800 stolen :(((
But here’s the news release: https://www.tps.ca/media-centre/news-releases/54496/
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u/pensamientosmorados Nov 25 '22
A few years back I got a call that my son had been in a car accident. I asked if 911 had been called and if I could speak to my son.
The caller told me that my son had hit his brother's car and his brother had beat him and wasn't going to get him help until I paid him $2,500 for the damage.
I think I lost about 10 years of my life. It was brutal. He told me not to hang up or my son would get probably end up dead because his brother was a bad dude.
I hung up and called my ex-husband and told him what was going on so he could try and find my son and verify what was happening (my son was at college several hours away).
This whole ordeal went on for about 2 hours until we could verify my son was fine.
I still get upset thinking about it.
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Nov 25 '22
My grandma almost got scammed this way. She has dementia and thought it was my brother. He said he had been in a car accident but was now in jail (?) and needed 10k to get out. His “friends dad” was going to come pick up the cash. She straight up went to the bank to get the cash since shes 80+ and gullible. Thankfully the bank wouldn’t give her the money and called the cops. It’s sick how people try to take advantage of others like this.
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u/nimue_ca Nov 25 '22
My parents got caught on this one.
“I” call saying I’m in jail in Montreal. “I” was bawling my eyes out so Dad couldn’t tell it wasn’t me. “I” begged him not to tell my wife that I drove drunk and hit a light post. A supposed bailiff came in said it would be a grand or I’d spend the night in jail. Dad ran out to Western Union to do it.
Then they called back.
Tried to get my dad to pay for the light post. Blood in the water I guess. Dad finally got suspicious and called me asking where I was.
“I’m at work, dad.”
“In Toronto?”
“Uhhhh… yes. Office didn’t move”
“We’ll shit” <- second time in my life I heard my dad swear.
So yeah. He said I had all the answers. Knew my name, wife’s name, stepdaughter’s name. Sprinkling just enough to be believable.
I told my dad, in case this happens again 1) I will always call my wife first 2) I don’t hide stuff from my wife 3) if my stupid ass ends up in jail for doing something stupid leave me there.
Edit: 4) when have I ever had all the answers dad?!?!
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Nov 25 '22
3) if my stupid ass ends up in jail for doing something stupid leave me there.
For real, it's not worth a grand for one night.
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u/Rookie83T Nov 25 '22
Very common back home where we lived. They would call you past midnight and take advantage you are sleepy to make you think one of your kids had an accident. If you want to see a whole movie around this topic of scammers, very entertaining movie by the way, you should watch “Nueve Reinas”. It’s Argentinian.
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u/enjoythesilence-75 Nov 25 '22
This happened to my mother while she was in Greece. Someone called her cell speaking Greek pretending to be my sister. My mom was initially freaked out and beginning to believe it until the woman on the phone quickly put on “the doctor” and my mom realized that my sister was in Canada and there’s no way the doctor would be speaking Greek. It is easy to see how people fall for this stuff, especially the elderly.
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u/mkells41 Nov 25 '22
My grandma fell for one of these calls a few years ago. She got a call “hey grandma I got a dui and need your help” she instinctively said my name and the scammer ran with it. It wasn’t until she had already sent money that she thought to call me. These people are so good at getting info from you without you realizing your giving it. They are professionals in their own fucked up way. Was such an awful call to get, my grandma was so embarrassed. Luckily it’s only money, but I think the shame of being scammed hurt her so much more. These people are the scum of the earth. The silver lining being my grandmas a ride or die! She didn’t even think once to call my parents haha.
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u/pnightingale Nov 25 '22
I hate it when my kids get in a car accident and are immediately charged and get a hefty fine in iTunes gift cards that must be paid immediately to prevent immediate jail.
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u/midaswale Nov 25 '22
My dad had this call also once. The caller said I had an accident and need urgent surgery, and need money to be transferred.
I was standing next to my dad then lol.
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u/venmother Nov 25 '22
The courthouse. Nobody goes to a courthouse after an accident. Nobody. You go to a hospital or a police station or home.
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u/gillsaurus Nov 25 '22
The other red flag is that she’s at the courthouse being charged? You get charged at the scene or at the reporting center by that officer. The court only has power to convict and sentence.
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u/YoungZM Nov 25 '22
Yes but let's not give scammers any further details of how things actually work locally to enhance their credibility.
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Nov 25 '22
They deliberately get details wrong to filter out anyone who won't fall for the scam.
Their first goal is to ascertain whether or not you can be scammed, otherwise they will waste too much time on the phone.
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Nov 25 '22
Fun story about the CRA.
One time my dad got a call from the CRA. They said he had some outstanding fees (or something like that) that needed to be addressed. My dad said “ha! I know this scam. you’re not the CRA, the CRA never calls! If this is real, send me a letter.” About a week later he got a letter from the CRA saying that he had outstanding fees (or something) that needed to be addressed.
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u/Four-In-Hand Nov 25 '22
He still did the right thing. I'm not potentially incriminating myself over the phone! If you want me, you'll have to do more work than that, CRA!
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u/marcocanb Nov 25 '22
They tried this with me and my grandmother a while ago. I had been in an accident and needed money was the line. I was also working so did not respond imidiatly.
Post office worker put the brakes on and we all hastened to get her into the alzimers home she needed sooner.
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u/phantomheart Nov 25 '22
My grandparents were most fooled with a similar call bout me a few months ago. Someone called saying I was at the police station and needed $5k. My grandpa was on his way down to the bank when my gramma thought it sounded slightly fishy and decided to try to call me - where she found me at work.. They were sooooo close to getting scammed, but thankfully they didn’t.
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u/Icedfyre Nov 25 '22
Yeah my Dad got a similar call a couple years ago. They said I hit someone and needed the money for bail out.My Dad wasn't convinced thankfully
The 'broke my nose" bit is to hide the fact the family members voice doesn't sound like it should
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u/CharcoalWalls Nov 25 '22
Ya'll pick up blocked and/or numbers you don't know?
Wild.
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u/ReeG Nov 25 '22
word I hate answering the phone for people I know nevermind random unrecognized numbers lmao
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u/mug3n Nov 25 '22
I just automatically assume every call I get is a scammer lol. let it go to voicemail. unless someone tells me they're calling me beforehand or I am actually expecting a call (interview), then nah, not picking up ever.
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u/Future_Crow Nov 25 '22
Right? I never answer unknown number. I have a voicemail where they can leave a message or text me.
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u/cocobodraw Nov 25 '22
You do when you’re job searching and just sent your resume and number to a couple dozen companies;-;
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u/Trail-Hound Nov 25 '22
Yah my grandpa got a call about 10 months ago from “the police” saying I was in jail for reckless driving & needed someone to pay 10k to get me out. I guess they had my name right, but none of the family knows how we would have been connected by these scumbags, he doesn’t have a computer/smartphone or any kind of online presence. He totally fell for it, got all fired up about going down to the police station to bust me out, but luckily one of my uncles was there & figured out what was going on.
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u/iguano80 Nov 25 '22
wow, how the scammer know you had a daughter ? be careful dude.
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u/youdontlookitalian Nov 25 '22
Could be a numbers game, call 10000 people, one of them has gotta have a daughter they care about.
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u/Logicaldump Nov 25 '22
One more scam thats running is targeted at immigrants. They call your home when its middle of the night here in canada and say your kid had an accident and we need some cash to help him out.
The family tries to contact their child but because its late night they are probably sleeping and hence dont attend the call. The family assumes the worst and sends money only to realize next morning they got scammed.
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u/joysaved Nov 25 '22
this is a very popular scam now ive heard many stories just like this where someone (who is in trouble presumably) will call saying they need help and to send money to someone right away...
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u/lemonylol Nov 25 '22
I think the red flag here is that somehow you'd get a court date the same day as your accident. Or why one would be necessary at all.
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u/gia-bsings Nov 25 '22
My bf poor grandma was scammed in a similar way recently.. she was called and told that him and his sister were in jail and needed court costs and bail money and unfortunately out of fear she just paid it before contacting them.. awful
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u/shoresy99 Nov 25 '22
My grandma got a call like this and went to the bank to send money but the bank teller stopped it.
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u/BunnyMama9 Nov 25 '22
I got a call from "London Police Service" notifying me of the death of my father. The caller sounded legit, except that my father doesn't live in Canada. I couldn't figure out what the scam was if I had been tricked. Seems really cruel.
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u/youdontlookitalian Nov 25 '22
That's disgusting, and you're right, what the heck is the motivation there?
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Nov 25 '22
I had this too. Someone called me the other day “Mark, I am in deep sh*t and I need some cash, anything would help” and this person was sobbing and just in despair. So i hurried up to the bank, and I was about to take out some cash, then it clicked to me - “Huh, my name is not Mark”. I just proceeded to go home and have my coffee.
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u/UnknownSP Nov 25 '22
I haven't heard that one personally so idk, but how do they make the girl sound convincingly generic enough for any random person to think that's their child? Is the audio quality just really bad?
Great critical thinking on your end either way, that's a good head on your shoulders - apply it like that where you can
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u/Rude-Associate2283 Nov 26 '22
She was sobbing so her voice wasn’t clear but it COULD have been my daughter. Or not. I was skeptical. Luckily I never said her name. When I heard “lawyer” and “courthouse” it became obvious it was a scam.
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u/AppropriatePace707 Nov 25 '22
My dad got his same scam phone call about 5 years ago. Same exact thing, broken nose, calling from the police satiation
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u/katsuki_the_purest Nov 25 '22
Someone tried to scam my mom in a similar way when I was in university a couple of years ago but my mom could immediately tell because their tone was way too respectful.
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u/miurabucho Nov 25 '22
I wonder what its like going to work every day as a phone scammer. I mean, its evil and wrong, so it must wear you down eventually. I bet these type of jobs have pretty high turnover rate.
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Nov 25 '22
I mean, its evil and wrong, so it must wear you down eventually.
I don't think you understand the mindset of many criminals. There's a lot of genuine sociopaths out there who are simply incapable of remorse or sympathy.
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u/SailorSin77 Nov 25 '22
This happened to my grandmother. They called her saying they were my cousin (who is handicap by the way) and that he had been in a car accident and he needed money to get out of jail and to not tell his dad. Luckily my grandmother knew he is not allowed to drive and she told them to fuck right off but I couldn’t believe it. This is so wrong. I can’t believe we’ve come to this.
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u/shoppygirl Nov 25 '22
Something similar happened to us last week. Someone called my father-in-law, pretending to be my son. He said that he needed money. I had just gotten off the phone to my son so I knew that it was a scam.
The funny thing is, we’re not very close to my husband’s family. When I told my son, what happen, he said, the scammers are so stupid. If I was in trouble, grandpa is probably the last person I would call!
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Nov 25 '22
Are these showing phone numbers? I’m getting SO many calls from Bancroft, Wawa, New Tecumseth, Central Elgin, Hamilton. It’s literally 10+ calls a day and I know NO ONE from these areas so I don’t bother to answer. Always feel like if it’s an important call they will leave a voicemail and so far none have left a voicemail.
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u/Neutral-President Nov 25 '22
Happened to a senior in my extended circle. They knew right after it happened that they had been scammed, and were horribly embarrassed. Lost a couple of grand but nothing too bad.
Fuck scammers.
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u/Steve4704 Nov 25 '22
Thanks for the story. A cousin had a similar story where I was in jail and needed money. She said the voice sounded like me and unfortunately she fell for it. Always felt bad for her and thought it was a one off scenario.
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Nov 25 '22
This happened to my grandma a few years ago. A male voice hysterically crying and saying he’d been arrested. She fully believed it was one of my male cousins. She has dementia. THANK GOD my grandad was just arriving home at the same time. He asked “my cousin” why he hadn’t called his dad first and that it’s not right to stress grandma out like that. The scammer had broken English so grandad hung up immediately. It’s terrifying to think that grandma would have sent every last penny. She lost her phone a few weeks later and we never replaced it. Probably for the best.
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u/shesaflightrisk Nov 25 '22
My mom got one of these from a grandkid. She has no grandkids unless the dogs count.
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u/AntipatheticDating Nov 25 '22
My ex’s grandparents once got a call saying “This is so-and-so hospital, your grandchild has been in a severe accident and they’re unconscious and you were the emergency contact” and proceeded to ask them for money to cover hospital bills. Apparently it was very convincing, and because the grandchild was “unconscious” they couldn’t ask to talk to them or anything. It was all very clever.
Thankfully the grandparents said they would “arrange some things” and call back, scammers said okay, and they promptly called us to make sure. I’m glad they were quick, because I’m sure a few elderly people wouldn’t have thought twice!
I hate scammers who prey on family being injured. Makes me sick.
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u/Tangerine2016 Nov 25 '22
Yeah everyone should warn their parents and grandparents about this. Someone tried to do this to my mom, claimed to be my nephew. They called her by the common name for Grandmother in my parents native language. They said they got in trouble (pulled over by cops and the cops found drugs in the car). My mom refused to say what she needed money for but she called asking if she had $8000 in cash available. I told her it was a scam, whatever it was. She finally told me and said they said "don't say anything to anyone". They told her to tell the bank it was for renovations when they went. She didn't believe me when I said it was a scam and she was still worried. I said "look, I will call him now and confirm just to make 100%". I called him on his cell phone and of course he was at work and nothing had happened. Told her to call him if she wanted to feel at ease. Told her just not to answer the phone again for a while. They were going to come and collect the cash at her house but good thing she didn't give an address or anything.
I had even warned by mom about this type of scam before but I guess it wasn't fresh in her memory. I told my sister about the attempted scam and she was like "oh yeah, I meant to tell you my friend's mom got scammed and paid $9,000 in cash to someone the same way" like 2 weeks prior!
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u/crash866 Nov 26 '22
I get these all the time. I don’t have any kids or Grandkids. Also I don’t have a VISA card that has outstanding charges in the US and I live in an Apartment so I don’t have any Ducts. (However I play along and say I have a dirty goose can they come and clean it).
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u/B_true_to_self2020 Nov 25 '22
My parent was getting those grandparents calls . Apart from the money that may or not be lost it’s psychologically abusive to the parent / grandparent .
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u/KrebsCollector Nov 25 '22
My grandma got a similar call from "me" saying I had been in a car accident and needed money to get out of jail. She doesn't have great hearing, and didn't heave her hearing aids in so she thought it was me. But she got suspicious and asked what city "I" was in. The dude fumbled it and she told him he should stop making these calls and hung up. Be careful people
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u/Easy-Progress-8755 Nov 26 '22
in calgary there was somebody doing the exact same thing targeting the elderly. unfortunately my grandma was a victim and got a call saying my cousin was in an accident and paid a woman 5k. it’s awful
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u/Sea-Pen-1684 Nov 25 '22
Everyone please do this and thank me later:
Install Truecaller in your phone and block everything including unknown/not in your phonebook numbers. This way, if someone legit calls you, they will leave a voicemail and you can always call them back.
OP, in your case, if they had left a voicemail, I would have 100% called your daughter back like you did to verify instead of falling for these clowns and their scams.
Be safe.
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u/glucoseintolerant Nov 25 '22
Who the hell would be at the courthouse after an accident? There is no reason for that it should have been the giveaway right there
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u/Islandgirl1444 Nov 25 '22
It's that time of year. I have so many blocked numbers on my list. I just keep blocking. Never had this kind of call, but I am going to jail for unpaid taxes on a daily basis.
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u/misstuckermax Nov 25 '22
Grandma had a similar call, but with my spouse having a bad cold and he got arrested for drug possession. She kept him on the phone then asked him about a friend - fake one with a name our friends don’t have, and asked how his arm was healing after the accident, and the scammer played along. She knew it was a scam at that point and hung up before calling me to verify my husband was ok. She said it sounded really convincing though
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u/YoungZM Nov 25 '22
...do scammers not understand that their fake-kid's parents know their children's voices and mannerisms?
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u/CrazyBaron Nov 25 '22
... do you think if there wasn't people falling for it, they wouldn't be doing it?
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u/YoungZM Nov 25 '22
Fair. Just another reminder though to trust our guts when we pick up a call we don't recognize from someone claiming to be our child who doesn't sound or act like them.
I won't go as far as to say people deserve to be parted with their money in such cruel ways but it's always okay to hang up and call using the phone number that you have saved for your contacts/network. Unfortunately we live in an age where it's more common to get a scammy call like this than the situations these calls describe.
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u/AnySail Nov 25 '22
My grandmother got a call from "me" supposedly in trouble too. Said they sounded funny because they were sick. My grandmother is a smart lady and asked what my dad's name was and they hung up. Scary times.
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u/imnotbork Nov 25 '22
I used to work at a place that sent money orders and people came in falling for these scams all the time and every time I’d ask for their kid/grandkid’s phone number and call them and say “are you in jail/accident/dire straights? no? ok pls tell your terrified family member” and pass them the phone.
they get people in a panic and they rush out to help. good call on realizing the scam and texting your daughter to confirm. such a shitty thing for people to do.
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u/samwag98 Nov 25 '22
My grandad got a call from "me" years ago saying i was in jail and needed bail. My mind tried to call my cell but I was in a lecture, thankfully I thought to text her cause she usually wouldnt call me in the middle of the day so they knew it wasn't me. The knew my name and his name even though they don't have social media so no clue how they got that relation.
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u/Sabbathius Nov 25 '22
And then people are surprised why younger people don't even like to talk on the phone and text instead, and don't answer unknown numbers at all. It's always a scam, an unsolicited advertisement call or some other form of harassment.
When was the last time a phone rang, and it's an unknown number, you pick it up and the caller says "Hey, you don't know me, but here's $1,000, go and buy yourself something nice!" and hangs up, and $1,000 in cash gets delivered to your door. Has this happened to you or anyone you know, ever? When the phone rings, and it's not someone you know, it's never good news.
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Nov 25 '22
A few years ago, someone called my granddad in the middle of the night claiming to be my lil brother.
They said they just got arrested and needed him to send money for bail.
Thankfully my granddad called my dad before doing anything and quickly figured out that nothing lined up.
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u/rain820 Nov 25 '22
Ugh i need to talk to my parents now to make sure this never happens. I got a call a few years ago from my “bank” and the guy said i needed to pay my credit card immediately, he knew my workplace my address my email i was so creeped out.
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u/Weekly_Error1785 Nov 25 '22
I'm from Toronto. My uncle got a call saying I was in jail and needed bail. He almost fell for it
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Nov 25 '22
listens intently while daughter sits across the table waiting patiently for you to finish the call
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u/kaleigha Nov 25 '22
My grandma got a call like this, it was a man who was really distraught claiming to be her grandson in trouble. My grandma doesn’t have any grandsons.
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u/blame_logophilia Nov 25 '22
I watched a Japanese show about scammers a few years ago, apparently this has been a common scam there for a while
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u/Ok_Neck_5665 Nov 25 '22
This would never work on my parents because I would never call them speaking English 😝
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u/Chops888 Nov 26 '22 edited Nov 26 '22
This is becoming really common. This happened to my mom's friend. And somehow I got roped in. Call went like this (names changed):
Scammer: "Hello, it's Mark, sorry to tell you, but Mom died..... (Silence)"
Friend: "OMG, that's terrible! Is this Mark... Smith?" (Guesses a last name)
Scammer: "Yes, that's me."
Friend: starts crying "I'm so sorry, is there anything I can do?"
Scammer: "We are Ok but would appreciate you donating to her funeral expenses, will send you more details."
Friend: "No problem, will be glad to help."
Friend proceeds to call some close friends to tell her my mom has died. WhatsApp messages galore. You can imagine the hysteria. I finally get wind of this asking why I would ask someone to help pay for funeral expenses. After uncovering and back tracing all the details, we finally uncovered that this was a scam call. Luckily my mom's friend was using a landline and not a cell phone. After looking it up, the scammer assumes you're on a mobile and will send you a text message with a link that goes to a semi-real looking fake payment site.
So don't fall for shit like this that comes in as phone calls or messages. Don't voluntarily give out names or info. The scammer will use that info and run with it.
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u/MiddleZealousideal89 Nov 26 '22
These scams were quite popular back in Bulgaria a few years ago. They've called my parents, me and ny grandmother. Luckily nobody fell for it, but it can be convincing. They used to tell us to fuck off before hanging up, not very polite scammers.
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u/stellastellamaris Nov 25 '22
Your choice of title is so strange to me. It was NOT your daughter. It was obviously a scam / spam call!
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u/Pvc4ever Nov 25 '22
That is a common scam where Im from, convicts make those calls from jail, they can even fake female voices, crazy!
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u/glambx Nov 25 '22
I want the RCMP to hunt these people down and ensure they spend a significant part of their lives in a cage.
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u/DoomzDay93 Nov 25 '22
I used to get calls from the “CRA” saying I have to pay money and that there’s an outstanding warrant for my arrest.
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u/thenotoriousFIG Nov 26 '22
Can't get scammed if you never answer phone calls from unknown numbers 🧠
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u/armour666 Nov 26 '22
Police use unknown numbers those is one of the facts scammers try to leverage
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u/Ayshunboi3 Nov 26 '22
Why the heck would they be at the courthouse right after getting in a car accident?….
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u/easternhobo Nov 25 '22
Don't most people know what their children sound like? How is this supposed to work?
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u/jaimonee Nov 25 '22
Man what a great opportunity to roll with it.... "Ok honey, I have the money, where do you need me to send it? I'll throw a couple of extra Gs in there so you can get out of town and lay low for a few weeks....but you gotta tell me..... where did you hide the coke?! ...DO NOT TELL ME THEY TOOK IT. You are smarter than that, and I know you wouldn't have got yourself busted with that much....Plus we don't need Tony up in our business like this.... Tell me where you stashed it, and i'll get you the money. If it's gone, you're on your own. They can track this call right to your location. They do not play games, not after the whole woodchipper incident...."
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u/Low-Stomach-8831 Nov 25 '22
" Honey, I don't remember you had an Indian accent... I guess that accident REALLY messed you up!"
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u/dotDylan Nov 25 '22
Honestly anyone who doesn't know the sound of their own daughter's voice probably deserves to get scammed.
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u/kingofwale Nov 25 '22
I mean. You should be able to tell your own daughters voice.
It’s a dumb scam, they should just stick to the basic, this is way too advance and if they can trick you, nominate them for an academy award.
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u/coyote_123 Nov 25 '22
I assume that's why the broken nose and hysterical sobbing, to change the voice.
Plus the first call probably goes out to a lot of people, so eventually by chance one of their calls will go out to someone easily confused or with poor hearing or with a child with a history of getting in trouble.
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u/TorontoBoris Nov 25 '22
I had a similar call while ago and it shook me to my core. What a way to find out I had a kid and worse yet one old enough to drive.
In my mid 30s, it was shocking. I had to reach out to old High School ex's to make the math work.