Western Morning News (Saturday)
When dreams of riches turn to nightmares
LAST night I lay in bed and instead of counting sheep, I counted all the vast sums of money that are on their way to me.
I’m about to be rich beyond belief and I find myself thinking of those kind people who are about to give me such vast amounts of cash – and they don’t even know me!
Why? Well recently I had an email from the manager of a major American airport telling me of an undisclosed amount of money left in several storage boxes – each one containing about $4m. And, can you believe it? My name and address – yes can you believe it – lil ole me from Devon – was attached to this consignment. And the manager was kind enough to research and track me down to tell me of this. He quickly glossed over the fact he’d like to share my fortune as he’d gone to so much trouble. Sorry Mr Michael Smith, who can’t even spell the name of the airport properly or give a likely email address – but you must think I’m daft.
But sadly there are a lot of people around who aren’t daft, but are gullible, perhaps not up to speed with scams. Only yesterday I had a call from “Amazon” telling me there was a problem with my account. The day before an email telling me my PayPal account was about to be closed. All very convincing – until you look at the email addresses, the spelling, or the sheer nonsense of it all. Major organisations simply don’t do business like that, but unfortunately there are the few who get caught. And the majority of those are through online fraudsters.
Often people are embarrassed when they realise they’ve been caught – the national crime agency reckon that fewer than 20% of incidents are actually reported. They’ve revealed that there were over 3m cases last year. It seems that over-60s and under-21s are the increasingly targeted audience.
My Mum was a classic victim. She lived on her own and was thrilled to get unsolicited mail through the post. A magazine offering a free lottery number and gift started it off. She dutifully filled it in, sending a cheque rather than card details. By return she got a plastic rose and a shower hat. Then a letter came featuring a slimy gold toothed bloke with slicked back hair and a grey sharkskin suit. “Dear Pattie, I’m so pleased to tell you that you have been selected in our worldwide lottery. Yes Pattie – YOU have been selected. And I will be around in July to present you with a cheque and flowers. All you have to do is to let me have your bank details Pattie, and we’ll do the rest.”
I went to her house – it was July – to find her dressed up to the nines, and a cake in the oven. It was then she showed me the letter. I had to convince her that the letter had no date or year, so could be any July. That it was fraudulent. She would have none of it. I realised, later, that she had early stage dementia. It got worse. The villains had clearly sold my mother’s address to others, lookalike tickets and promises of riches landed on her door. “We’re going to Australia” she cried. “They’ve sent me a ticket!”. A vicious rage ensued when I tried to tell her it wasn’t genuine. I was accused of jealousy and she subsided in a huff.
Until the next promise arrived.
By now I was concerned. The bank had agreed to keep an eye out for any transactions from her. Then I took a picture of my Mum to the local post office, realising she might try to send money through them. She must have been the only 87-year-old with a “wanted” notice pinned on the wall of their staff room. Bless them. Then my MP wrote warning her of scams. I knew she’d be impressed by the Parliament letterhead and was again grateful for his help. But in the end it made no difference. I caught her one day furtively scuttling to the mail box with a response to the latest crook. I had to arm wrestle the letter from her. It was dreadful and she truly hated and resented me for standing in the way of her millions.
“Think Jessica” was set up after 70-year-old Jessica responded to competitions offering prizes. She swallowed the devious sales techniques hook, line and sinker and her name was on a “suckers list”. Her details were sold all over the world to other criminals. Unlike my Mum, she spent all her money appeasing scammers who told her she was supporting charities, or clairvoyants who demanded money to keep evil away.
As a result of Jessica’s sad tale – she died a tortured soul despite her family’s help – her daughter set up “Think Jessica” Friends against Scams. Thinkjessica.com is an excellent website which both raises awareness and inspires people to take action against the ever-growing criminals who try and take advantage of us. As for my Mum – dementia got her before the scammers could. And for me? I’ll stick to counting sheep thanks very much.
My Mum was a classic victim. She was thrilled to get unsolicited mail through the post