Page 20 - Discover Fall 2020

Kate’s Corner CONTINUED
them along until they are so angry that they
are speaking Pidgin English. I actually had
one punk, who knew he’d blown his cover,
screaming at me to just send $2,500 or
he’d keep calling. He hung-up when I said
I’d need routing information and his bank
account number.
Hearing loss and senility really gets
under their skin. A word of caution, however:
it’s important to agree to send money right up
front, or they’ll hang up almost immediately
(like the Latino caller) and ruin all your fun.
From a victim’s standpoint, the con
schemes that I like best are the written ones.
They give you time to think and get creative.
Although you can’t hear their voices, just like
in a telephone conversation if you keep asking
questions and keep them “talking”, their
English begins to fall apart and they expose
themselves for what they really are: impostors
that would steal their blind grandmother’s
cane for a little easy cash.
My favorite experience with one was on
Messenger, which, I’ve learned, has become
one of the most popular tools of con artists,
along with email. My friend Jane’s account
was hacked. I knew almost immediately
that it wasn’t Jane writing to me because the
conversation was different than any we would
have had. We’ve never been “cozy” in our
friendship like people who “talk” every day
and have been friends for years.
“What are you up to?” was the
message. I’ve only known Jane a few years.
We exchange Christmas letters. She wouldn’t
greet me that way. One question confirmed
my suspicions:
“Good!” I responded, “Are you still at
your daughter’s?” Jane’s only child is a boy; the
impostor answered “yes” and then offered me
18 Discover Smith Mountain Lake FALL 2020
bait that he hoped would result in money in
his pocket. He told me he had won a lottery
(or drawing or sweepstakes) for thousands of
dollars, and while signing for his money saw
my name also listed as one of the winners.
The scam is that he provides a link to
a site that looks like (for example) it belongs
to Publishers Clearing House, where you
will indeed learn that you’ve won a sizable
prize. These sites are counterfeit, and cleverly
designed to look real. To get the money, you
need to pay $900 upfront for some type of
“security”. Next, they’ll ask for even more
money for enhanced security when the
thousands in cash is actually delivered directly
to your home. All the time your “friend” on
Messenger is assuring you that he/she had to
do exactly the same thing before cashing in
on the prize money, which he/she is enjoying
at this very moment.
I ignored his statement about being a
sweepstakes winner and kept talking about
Jane’s fictitious family. He kept pulling me
back to the bait. Finally I told him that I was
very much aware he was not Jane, and it was
obvious that he was hoping to get money
from me, which would not happen. I also told
him he is not smart enough to earn a living
as a con-man, and should get a job instead
of wasting his time and everyone else’s. The
scheme he was using, I told him, has been
used by so many crooks that everyone in the
USA is wise to it. Sadly, that is not the truth.
The USA continues to be the favorite target
of these lowlifes. They got my sister’s elderly
friend for $15,000 on the grandma-my-nose-
is-broken scam.
She is a sweet, trusting woman who
would do anything for her grandchildren, and
that’s the type of target that these creeps seek.
I’m not that nice. The con-men don’t know