Scam Alert - my mom got scammed (1 Viewer)

[Steeler]

My 81 year old Mom got scammed for 4K in Home Depot gift cards. I won't get into every detail of the story, but a popup message on her computer got her to call "Microsoft", and eventually they got my Mom to drive to home depot and purchase 8 $500 gift cards, then drive home and read the numbers to them. My Mom was apparently on the phone for 5 hours total. So frustrating and sickening that people can take advantage of the elderly like that.

She's been in touch with the attorney general in her state, and an elderly victims of crime advocacy group so she's getting some help. My sister has changed her passwords and all that from her computer (not my Mom's), so that's done. My questions are related to the credit card company and Home Depot - do they have any liability here? The credit card company may or may not forgive this purchase - that is still TBD. As soon as my Mom realized she was scammed she called Home Depot to try to block the numbers and they originally told her "it's probably too late anyway" and didn't do anything. Weeks later, Home Depot called her and asked what they can do - we'll it's definitely too late now!

I'm not trying to blame anyone, my Mom did purchase the cards, but it sucks Home Depot and the CC company allowed her to go through with the purchase. She typically has a ~$500 monthly balance that she pays off every month, so this was definitely outside of her normal spending habits yet the CC company didn't flag the purchase.

Maybe I'm just venting, I don't know. Anything else to consider?

 

[TLEF316]

Sorry this happened. That's freaking awful and just a system failure at every level.

All the silly hoops we have to jump through just to access our every day accounts that NOBODY would ever hack (the silly password requirements....clicking pictures of stoplights and busses) and the credit card company allows this to happen to an 81 year old woman? And shame on Home Depot for not having a system in place for this (or just the person who I presume rung her up not saying something)

Just sucks all around.

 

[Nick Vermeil]

This sucks. Happened to my mom a decade ago except they charged her monthly for “support” and gained access to her PC.

My advice to everyone who is caring for an elderly parent:

-Freeze their credit with all bureaus.
-create a remote connection that allows you to get on their pc.
-set them up on a password manager.
-better yet, get yourself a password manager and add them to it so you can reset their accounts in an emergency.
-every time you talk to them, right before you say “I love you” and “goodbye,” remind them to ignore everything that comes out of their computer or phone until they talk to you. Everything. Even from aunt Edna.

 

[FatMax]

Sorry man. This is the reason that I don't set a computer in my mom's house. She's the perfect target for guys like this. It's bad enough that she has a landline (that we've had to change the number to several times because of scams), but she'd get fleeced on a computer even faster.

One time I went to her house and started poking around in the garage. In the corner was a massive stack of new, never read magazines that she'd been scammed into purchasing over the phone. She was probably getting about 25 magazines per month, including two subscriptions to Golf Magazine - and she's never golfed a day in her life. She also casually mentioned that $300 was missing from her checking account every month. This had been going on for over a year. She didn't remember subscribing to anything (she has some mental issues) and thought there was nothing that could be done. I can't tell you how pissed off I was that dirtbags like this exist.

 

[Galileo]

They almost got my mom a couple years ago. It was some scheme that convinced her she had a refund coming and then they accidentally refunded too much money and demanded that she repay it. She gave them remote access to her computer and opened her online banking account before she caught on. She hung up on them and shut off her computer and called me. Fortunately, we were able to act fast enough to freeze her accounts and report this activity to the bank and police. We had some inconvenience with needing to close accounts and change a lot of passwords, but we were able to protect her finances.

I know the situation sucks, but it is tough to put blame on Home Depot. As soon as they deny service to someone, won't they be accused of discrimination? Sure it is unusual for an elderly person to come in and buy several large gift cards, but whose to say she is not giving them away as gifts to her grandkids or something. I guess it wouldn't hurt for them to have some sort of protocol in place to at least ask some questions, but I imagine that could become a bit of a slippery slope as well.

 

[Phil Elliott]

My MIL has dementia about half the time. She constantly thinks her Amazon account was hacked from emails she receives. She doesn't have an Amazon account.

 

[NewlyRetired]

I am very sorry to hear this happen. I handle all of my parents finances so I am always on guard and warning my mom to ignore everything she see's. She is very cautious understanding that she is a target group so that helps.

I also have very low level alerts on her credit cards so I know the second anything happens. I get texts and emails. I highly recommend anyone who has elderly parents do the same. Seeing the scam happen early is the easiest way to put a stop to it.

Out of curiosity, what did the scam promise to your mom for her getting the gift cards? And was keeping her on the phone that long part of the scam?

 

[Juxtatarot]

It's tough to put any blame on the credit card's fraud monitoring system. The card was physically present and used at a local Home Depot. It's common for people to spend $500 or more there. Regardless, she would likely have confirmed the purchase if she was notified shortly afterwards.

 

[Steeler]

Out of curiosity, what did the scam promise to your mom for her getting the gift cards? And was keeping her on the phone that long part of the scam?

Keeping her on the phone that long was to wear her down, IMO. Apparently it was a couple hours into the call before the first person "noticed someone was trying to take out a loan in her name", how "Microsoft" would know that is beyond me. But they transferred her to the second person who was trying to stop the loan from going through and somehow the gift cards were purchased... not sure if I'll ever know for sure how she got from point A to point B here. Pretty elaborate scheme where they have the first technician having her try different things to fix the computer issue, then transferring to the closer who completes the scam.

 

[Steeler]

Regardless, she would likely have confirmed the purchase if she was notified shortly afterwards.

I already thought of that as well - sucks.

 

[belljr]

I hope they all die a painful death....

Sorry this happened

 

[jrt103]

Kitboga makes a living off exposing these EXACT scams... and gets a ton of them shut down.

 

[NewlyRetired]

Out of curiosity, what did the scam promise to your mom for her getting the gift cards? And was keeping her on the phone that long part of the scam?

Keeping her on the phone that long was to wear her down, IMO. Apparently it was a couple hours into the call before the first person "noticed someone was trying to take out a loan in her name", how "Microsoft" would know that is beyond me. But they transferred her to the second person who was trying to stop the loan from going through and somehow the gift cards were purchased... not sure if I'll ever know for sure how she got from point A to point B here. Pretty elaborate scheme where they have the first technician having her try different things to fix the computer issue, then transferring to the closer who completes the scam.

Holy crap. Thank you so much for sharing.

I have long seen the "call Microsoft to fix this problem" scams, but I always assumed they were trying to get credit card numbers. I did not realize they branched off like this.

 

[GroveDiesel]

I know the situation sucks, but it is tough to put blame on Home Depot. As soon as they deny service to someone, won't they be accused of discrimination? Sure it is unusual for an elderly person to come in and buy several large gift cards, but whose to say she is not giving them away as gifts to her grandkids or something. I guess it wouldn't hurt for them to have some sort of protocol in place to at least ask some questions, but I imagine that could become a bit of a slippery slope as well.

Feels like it shouldn’t be all that hard to train employees to look for this type of scam and ask a few simple questions and kindly mention that there are scams involving having people purchase gift cards.

“Wow, that’s a lot of gift cards. Have a big project coming up?”

“Our corporate policy is to just to inform anyone buying large amounts of gift cards that there are a lot of scams involving asking people to buy gift cards.”

 

[mr. furley]

remind them to ignore everything that comes out of their computer or phone until they talk to you. Everything.

my wife fields this call like 2-3 times per week from her mom

MIL is just completely baffled by email and pop-up ads

 

[culdeus]

Kitboga makes a living off exposing these EXACT scams... and gets a ton of them shut down.

I like to have his live streams on. It's sort of white noise.

 

[Courtjester]

Put a robo-block on phones. It will stop a lot of these calls from getting in. Most of them are auto dialed and it will deter them.

 

[brun]

I really do hate these scammers. It's not that any one particular scam is worse. It's just that it's a constant barrage and in a weak moment or an instance where you're not paying attention or are distracted, I can see how most can get fooled.
Be careful out there.

 

[NutterButter]

At least she told you about it so that you can attempt to take some action. Knowing my mom, she would just keep it to herself.

 

[3C's]

Recently, my sister sent me an email to ask if something was a scam. This happens often, she'll email or text and ask if something is a scam or whatever. I immediately recognized it as a scam and said yes. She said "I thought something was strange when it kept declining my card".

It was this: https://www.komando.com/security-privacy/apple-icloud-phishing-attack/881156/

Crazy that I got both the looks and the brains.

 

[belljr]

i've gotten a couple where i was like wait is this a scam? getting old sucks

 

[Godsbrother]

My mom was targeted a few times with the "Grandma, I need money to get out/stay out of jail" scam. Fortunately she called me to check if my son was okay before sending any cash and I told her it was a scam.

The frustrating part is each time they called it really upset her and I had to calm her down. She was worried that this time it really was my son calling.

I hope there is an especially bad spot in hell for scammers that prey on the elderly.

 

[Juxtatarot]

I know the situation sucks, but it is tough to put blame on Home Depot. As soon as they deny service to someone, won't they be accused of discrimination? Sure it is unusual for an elderly person to come in and buy several large gift cards, but whose to say she is not giving them away as gifts to her grandkids or something. I guess it wouldn't hurt for them to have some sort of protocol in place to at least ask some questions, but I imagine that could become a bit of a slippery slope as well.

Feels like it shouldn’t be all that hard to train employees to look for this type of scam and ask a few simple questions and kindly mention that there are scams involving having people purchase gift cards.

“Wow, that’s a lot of gift cards. Have a big project coming up?”

“Our corporate policy is to just to inform anyone buying large amounts of gift cards that there are a lot of scams involving asking people to buy gift cards.”

A grocery store by me has a large sign about fraud by the gift card kiosk.

Although I agree with your point about staff training, it might be challenging to be consistent since cashier can be a high turnover position.

 

[Keerock]

i've gotten a couple where i was like wait is this a scam? getting old sucks

Everything is a scam until proven otherwise. I've told my 87 y/o mom this after she nearly fell for a scam giving "Geek Squad" access to her computer.

 

[NutterButter]

i've gotten a couple where i was like wait is this a scam? getting old sucks

Yes it does. I do feel bad for older folks having to deal with this crap especially when they haven't spent their younger years developing defensive habits like not answering your phone for an unknown number.

 

[Snoopy]

I keep getting scam texts claiming to be from the post office saying it received a package but has incomplete delivery information. Block the number then they send again from a different number.

 

[Keerock]

I constantly get random texts from numbers I don't know pretending like they know me.

Here are some recent ones:
"Kelly, it's Lynn. The perfume you gave Linda last time, I love the smell, can you order a bottle for me?"
"Have you forgotten your cup?"
"Do you have an update for me?"

What the heck are they trying to get from me... how does this "scam" work?

I usually respond with something like:
"Just send me your VIN and I'll get you the quote for your extended vehicle warranty"

That usually stops the thread.

I did respond to the one above "Have you forgotten your cup" with: "yes, and the two girls that came with it"

 

[Courtjester]

I keep getting scam texts claiming to be from the post office saying it received a package but has incomplete delivery information. Block the number then they send again from a different number.

According to TikTok, if you are getting those then you were part of some kind of data breach somewhere and should probably monitor credit more often.

Around the 20th of each month I pay my cable bill and sure enough, I will get a real formal email response from Xfinity indicating my payment method was declined and I need to re-enter it. However if you hover over the hyperlink they are directing me to, you can see the email is coming from a non-Xfinity site. They almost got me the 1st time, but then I checked my bank and I saw my payment was processed successfully.

I used to mess with telemarketers calling from the Windows or Google repair team. I would tell them I am Amish and I don't believe in technology or I would pretend to be distraught that my computer was infected and throw it away. One time I only spoke to them in Spanish (I can't speak Spanish BTW) and they got real frustrated with me. BUT CAUTION--they got the last laugh because soon they began calling my phone number (this is before I got the robo-block) at like 6:00 am on Saturdays and they would call back again at 7:00 am. I learned my lesson.

 

[Dickies]

This feels like the golden age of scams.

My wife's grandpa sent $2,000 in Apple gift cards to some "Microsoft" scammer. He was furious and super embarrassed, but a month and a half later he was in the process of doing the same thing except the store clerk refused to sell him the gift cards (thank god). He then called my MIL to complain about the store clerk not selling him the gift cards and we were able to put a stop to it all.

I have an old acquaintance that is on social media promoting a bunch of MLM crypto Ponzi schemes. I've gone down the rabbit hole of looking in to each one that she starts promoting and they are all obvious scams (2-5% per day "guaranteed" returns). I've watched YT channels like Coffeezilla and it has opened my eyes to how many of these are out there and how much money they are able to steal.... with law enforcement seemingly doing absolutely nothing.

 

[3C's]

I keep getting scam texts claiming to be from the post office saying it received a package but has incomplete delivery information. Block the number then they send again from a different number.

According to TikTok, if you are getting those then you were part of some kind of data breach somewhere and should probably monitor credit more often.

Around the 20th of each month I pay my cable bill and sure enough, I will get a real formal email response from Xfinity indicating my payment method was declined and I need to re-enter it. However if you hover over the hyperlink they are directing me to, you can see the email is coming from a non-Xfinity site. They almost got me the 1st time, but then I checked my bank and I saw my payment was processed successfully.

I used to mess with telemarketers calling from the Windows or Google repair team. I would tell them I am Amish and I don't believe in technology or I would pretend to be distraught that my computer was infected and throw it away. One time I only spoke to them in Spanish (I can't speak Spanish BTW) and they got real frustrated with me. BUT CAUTION--they got the last laugh because soon they began calling my phone number (this is before I got the robo-block) at like 6:00 am on Saturdays and they would call back again at 7:00 am. I learned my lesson.

Amish with a telephone? You're not fooling me buddy. Now, please share your screen...

 

[Osaurus]

I constantly get random texts from numbers I don't know pretending like they know me.

Here are some recent ones:
"Kelly, it's Lynn. The perfume you gave Linda last time, I love the smell, can you order a bottle for me?"
"Have you forgotten your cup?"
"Do you have an update for me?"

What the heck are they trying to get from me... how does this "scam" work?

I usually respond with something like:
"Just send me your VIN and I'll get you the quote for your extended vehicle warranty"

That usually stops the thread.

I did respond to the one above "Have you forgotten your cup" with: "yes, and the two girls that came with it"

I know the feeling

 

[Keerock]

I constantly get random texts from numbers I don't know pretending like they know me.

Here are some recent ones:
"Kelly, it's Lynn. The perfume you gave Linda last time, I love the smell, can you order a bottle for me?"
"Have you forgotten your cup?"
"Do you have an update for me?"

What the heck are they trying to get from me... how does this "scam" work?

I usually respond with something like:
"Just send me your VIN and I'll get you the quote for your extended vehicle warranty"

That usually stops the thread.

I did respond to the one above "Have you forgotten your cup" with: "yes, and the two girls that came with it"

I know the feeling

Hi Stacy, yes... when I had to remove the hardware to get into the barn with your mom, I stashed it in my glove box. Send her over to get it if you still need it.

 

[fruity pebbles]

So how does a “Microsoft“ representative convince someone to send them gift cards from another business? I’m genuinely curious because it’s not just the elderly who are falling for these scams.

 

[JAA]

It happens to all people of all ages

 

[massraider]

Ditch the phone number, get a new one, and then set up Google Voice for them. That's the number they use for anything where they sign up on the web.

Yes yes, changing phone numbers sucks. Tell them it's better than being scammed

 

[Dickies]

So how does a “Microsoft“ representative convince someone to send them gift cards from another business? I’m genuinely curious because it’s not just the elderly who are falling for these scams.

They target the gullible. I've heard they intentionally act super unprofessional as a way to filter out people who wouldn't fall for the scam anyways. Once someone falls for it once they get added to a list for repeat scams

 

[Keerock]

So how does a “Microsoft“ representative convince someone to send them gift cards from another business? I’m genuinely curious because it’s not just the elderly who are falling for these scams.

They target the gullible. I've heard they intentionally act super unprofessional as a way to filter out people who wouldn't fall for the scam anyways. Once someone falls for it once they get added to a list for repeat scams

No wonder so many are successful. That's like 70% of the country.

 

[Dickies]

Kitboga makes a living off exposing these EXACT scams... and gets a ton of them shut down.

His video the other day about creating a maze to waste the scammers' time was pretty damn funny.

 

[Scoresman]

So how does a “Microsoft“ representative convince someone to send them gift cards from another business? I’m genuinely curious because it’s not just the elderly who are falling for these scams.

They target the gullible. I've heard they intentionally act super unprofessional as a way to filter out people who wouldn't fall for the scam anyways. Once someone falls for it once they get added to a list for repeat scams

But what's their pitch? As in how does someone from Microsoft end up convincing someone else that they need to go buy thousands in home depot gift cards? The two are so unrelated it seems like a huge stretch.

 

[NutterButter]

So how does a “Microsoft“ representative convince someone to send them gift cards from another business? I’m genuinely curious because it’s not just the elderly who are falling for these scams.

They target the gullible. I've heard they intentionally act super unprofessional as a way to filter out people who wouldn't fall for the scam anyways. Once someone falls for it once they get added to a list for repeat scams

That's also why they intentionally misspell words to target the less educated

 

[Keerock]

Kitboga makes a living off exposing these EXACT scams... and gets a ton of them shut down.

His video the other day about creating a maze to waste the scammers' time was pretty damn funny.

The impossible password game is friggin' money

 

[Keerock]

So how does a “Microsoft“ representative convince someone to send them gift cards from another business? I’m genuinely curious because it’s not just the elderly who are falling for these scams.

They target the gullible. I've heard they intentionally act super unprofessional as a way to filter out people who wouldn't fall for the scam anyways. Once someone falls for it once they get added to a list for repeat scams

That's also why they intentionally misspell words to target the less educated

How would they know?

 

[titusbramble]

Kitboga makes a living off exposing these EXACT scams... and gets a ton of them shut down.

DO NOT REDEEM!

I'm sorry to hear the OP's mum got scammed here, but this certainly isn't a new or uncommon thing, and I would have expected anyone who uses the internet in the slightest would already be aware of this

 

[Zow]

Sorry this happened. That's freaking awful and just a system failure at every level.

All the silly hoops we have to jump through just to access our every day accounts that NOBODY would ever hack (the silly password requirements....clicking pictures of stoplights and busses) and the credit card company allows this to happen to an 81 year old woman? And shame on Home Depot for not having a system in place for this (or just the person who I presume rung her up not saying something)

Just sucks all around.

While I very much feel for the OP's mom, I don't agree that this was some system-wide failure. She went to Home Depot and made an in-person credit card purchase. Assuming she didn't tell some clerk this was for a Microsoft issue or something that would have alerted a reasonable person that this was a sketchy transaction, I'm not sure what you wanted either Home Depot or the cred card company to do. I could easily see a grandmother purchasing eight $500 HD gift cards as Christmas presents and if Home Depot questions her purchases well then they're arguably insulting her decision-making capability.

 

[NutterButter]

So how does a “Microsoft“ representative convince someone to send them gift cards from another business? I’m genuinely curious because it’s not just the elderly who are falling for these scams.

They target the gullible. I've heard they intentionally act super unprofessional as a way to filter out people who wouldn't fall for the scam anyways. Once someone falls for it once they get added to a list for repeat scams

That's also why they intentionally misspell words to target the less educated

How would they know?

Who know what?

 

[NutterButter]

Sorry this happened. That's freaking awful and just a system failure at every level.

All the silly hoops we have to jump through just to access our every day accounts that NOBODY would ever hack (the silly password requirements....clicking pictures of stoplights and busses) and the credit card company allows this to happen to an 81 year old woman? And shame on Home Depot for not having a system in place for this (or just the person who I presume rung her up not saying something)

Just sucks all around.

I could easily see a grandmother purchasing eight $500 HD gift cards as Christmas presents and if Home Depot questions her purchases well then they're arguably insulting her decision-making capability.

I need to change Grandmas

 

[TLEF316]

Sorry this happened. That's freaking awful and just a system failure at every level.

All the silly hoops we have to jump through just to access our every day accounts that NOBODY would ever hack (the silly password requirements....clicking pictures of stoplights and busses) and the credit card company allows this to happen to an 81 year old woman? And shame on Home Depot for not having a system in place for this (or just the person who I presume rung her up not saying something)

Just sucks all around.

While I very much feel for the OP's mom, I don't agree that this was some system-wide value. She went to Home Depot and made an in-person credit card purchase. Assuming she didn't tell some clerk this was for a Microsoft issue or something that would have alerted a reasonable person that this was a sketchy transaction, I'm not sure what you wanted either Home Depot or the cred card company to do. I could easily see a grandmother purchasing eight $500 HD gift cards as Christmas presents and if Home Depot questions her purchases well then they're arguably insulting her decision-making capability.

I hear ya...but the situation is so extreme I just can't believe common sense wouldn't cause someone to ask a few questions. $4,000 in gift cards is a major outlier and should raise some red flags.

I don't expect a cashier at home depot to make that call.....but if I'm in their corporate structure (knowing these sorts of scams are out there), I'm adding some sort of register trigger where a manager has to come in on gift cards over a certain amount in one transaction.

I've been to places where you CANT buy gift cards with a credit card at all (cash only). And while it might offend the occasional senior who feels you're questioning their competency, I think it's a small price to pay to avoid this situation. I mean....I got carded buying Sudafed a couple of months ago.

 

[Keerock]

So how does a “Microsoft“ representative convince someone to send them gift cards from another business? I’m genuinely curious because it’s not just the elderly who are falling for these scams.

They target the gullible. I've heard they intentionally act super unprofessional as a way to filter out people who wouldn't fall for the scam anyways. Once someone falls for it once they get added to a list for repeat scams

That's also why they intentionally misspell words to target the less educated

How would they know?

Who know what?

How would the less educated know there were misspellings?

 

[NutterButter]

So how does a “Microsoft“ representative convince someone to send them gift cards from another business? I’m genuinely curious because it’s not just the elderly who are falling for these scams.

They target the gullible. I've heard they intentionally act super unprofessional as a way to filter out people who wouldn't fall for the scam anyways. Once someone falls for it once they get added to a list for repeat scams

That's also why they intentionally misspell words to target the less educated

How would they know?

Who know what?

How would the less educated know there were misspellings?

They wouldn't. That's the point. They're trying to target just them with the cheap initial phase of the scam so that only the less educated carry onto the next phase which is more time intensive and thus costlier for the scammers.

 

[DA RAIDERS]

So how does a “Microsoft“ representative convince someone to send them gift cards from another business? I’m genuinely curious because it’s not just the elderly who are falling for these scams.

They target the gullible. I've heard they intentionally act super unprofessional as a way to filter out people who wouldn't fall for the scam anyways. Once someone falls for it once they get added to a list for repeat scams

That's also why they intentionally misspell words to target the less educated

How would they know?

Who know what?

How would the less educated know there were misspellings?

THTS the point. The the edgukated will notice the erors and move on