Years ago I wrote a blog about a scam in which con artists call people’s homes and pretend to be a grandson or other relative to try to trick them into giving money. Well, yesterday it happened again. Someone called my house pretending to be my nephew and asking for my mother. I was about to mow the lawn when the call came. The caller ID showed an “Unknown caller” display with an unfamiliar number with an unfamiliar area code. I answered and the caller said, “Hello, Grandma [My mom’s name]! It’s me!” Immediately warning sirens went off due to the fact that I had encountered this scam before, the voice was definitely not my nephew (my mother’s only grandchild), my actual nephew never called my mom “Grandma [Mom’s first name]”, and, oh yeah, my mother having passed away in April 2018.
I asked who was calling and the voice claimed, “It’s your grandson! I can’t talk any higher than this! Can you hear me, Grandma [Mom’s name]?” Putting aside how I probably should have made a smart aleck remark about how would I be able to have a conversation if I weren’t hearing him, notice he seemed to think I was my mother. My real nephew would have known for sure I was not (He probably would have asked me to put my aunt on the phone anyway since she’s the one who’s actually competent, but I digress ;-)).
I insisted that he give me a name and he somehow gave me my nephew’s first name. He then claimed, “I broke my nose! I’m in the hospital!” First he claims he couldn’t speak any higher and then he raises his voice to whine and give a false complaint. The broken nose lie was probably to try to disguise his voice not sounding like my nephew’s (although a broken nose wouldn’t suddenly give someone an accent like this guy had), but there were still huge red flags. The ID showed a completely unfamiliar number. If my nephew had really called from the hospital, he would have either used his phone or a hospital phone, meaning the caller ID would show either his number or the hospital number (I’ve seen instances in which the caller ID from patient rooms showed something like “area code-000-0000”, but still showed the name of the hospital). For that matter, if he had gotten injured, it’s most likely that instead of calling us, he would have called his parents and they would have contacted us by phone, email, or text message to let us know what had happened.
I asked the scammer to give me more information, including full name and date of birth. After initially refusing, he finally produced my nephew’s first and middle names (which I found creepy), but not a last name or date of birth. I finally delivered the finisher: “If you were really [nephew’s name] you would have known that [Mom’s name] passed away two years ago.” There was silence for a couple seconds and then an audible click as the creep hung up, probably panicking because of his scam failing so miserably. Later I tried calling the number back and the operator claimed, “This number is not in service.” I also thought later that I should have offered him a dollar to tell me where he got his information from (Whatever it was, it obviously wasn’t up to date).
While I ponder if someone will eventually call the house claiming to be me (bonus points if they A) mispronounce my name or B) are a man), here’s more advice on the situation. If someone calls trying this stunt, ask for a name. Most of them won’t be able to give one. If they do give a name and you either know it’s not your relative or aren’t sure, keep asking them questions. Scammers will cry, plead, and maybe even make threats, but don’t give in. The SpongeBob episode “The Paper” had the line, “And promise me, no matter how much I may beg, and plead, and cry, don't give that paper back to me...ever!” You have to be the same way with scammers, refusing to give them money or information no matter what. If they claim to be in the hospital, ask them for a specific hospital & room number and offer to visit them personally. If they refuse to give information or insist that you don’t try to meet with them, say you can’t help them. Do what you can to catch them in their lies. I didn’t think of it at the time, but I had a smart phone close by. I could have had some fun by calling my nephew’s cell, putting both phones on speaker, and asking my nephew, “Hey, this guy says he’s you and you’re in the hospital with a broken nose. Care to comment on that?” Please spread the word on this scam and how to combat it.