Fraud Week: Megyn Kelly Reveals Personal Story of a Scam in Her Own Life Involving Her Family
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 24 ส.ค. 2024
- Fraud Week concludes with Megyn Kelly's personal story of fraud that she reveals for the first time ever - a scam involving her mother-in-law, her husband, and more. To help tell the story, you'll hear from members of her family, and Steve the Cape Cod whale watching guide who helped expose the mystery. Then Megyn plays the audio of her conversation with the scammer, and talks to security expert Bill Stanton, who helps explain the details of the scam, and how viewers and listeners can avoid being scammed and being the victim of a fraud in their own lives.
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I don’t vote, Jesus is my president always.
Megyn some people are book smart but street stupid. And that is why they take advantage of the lack of experience people have of dealing with a scammer.
Interesting show. I got scammed when I went to Trump University for two years. Then I found out my degree was more worthless than Shannon Bream's degree from Liberty Bible College.
Megyn, I get scam emails all the time from this convicted felon and registered sex predator trying to raise money to pay his legal bills.
@@jillmiller1705a
My father, a retired cop, once got a call that his grandson was in jail. His response was
Lhhhjnnṉ hI I h ha nbbq
😂
😂😂😂
God help us.
Your father is a wise man indeed!😂 Love it. It’s just crazy how people don’t utilized their god given common sense in life and then get drunk and high to further brain damage! 😭🤪
Always always call the person that is suppose to be in trouble first! I've heard this story so many times. So sad.
Yep.
Absolutely- the very FIRST to do and if they don't answer, call their spouse or friend.
My 82 yr old mother received a call from a young man professing to be my son in jail. He told her to please not call me because he was embarrassed and could she please bail him out. Thank the Lord she immediately called me. It was a scam. I knew where my son was!!!
At the beginning I was saying to myself................CALL DIANE! LOL
Happens a lot. There's also the "We've kidnapped your granddaughter on her vacation in Cancun, and you need to wire us $_______ immediately! Or else!""
And doting, codgerly grandma or grandpa panics without even thinking to ask the "kidnappers" what their granddaughter's name is or asking to see any photos or anything.
And also the gazillion crypto scams ongoing daily. And the gift card payment scams related to crypto purchases, NFTs, you name it.
And the sidewalk and gas station hustlers that give you a sob story about how they desperately need gas money or school supplies money for their kids, or food for their kids.
So you feel bad for them, fall for it and give them some money. Then they snatch that money from your hands, hop in their vehicle and burn rubber outta there, without getting the gas or going into the store to buy that food.
You wanted to help them out of the goodness of your heart, but they took your money, maybe didn't even say thanks, and took off.
That happened to me a few times before I finally grew a spine and started saying No.
After you get burned enough times, you learn. Low life turds like to prey on better people's compassion and naivete.
They'll also set up chairs with umbrellas and hold signs saying "Will Work for Food" or "Homeless Veteran" at the busiest intersections or choke points in your town and often pace back & forth by your vehicle stuck in traffic there. Or at an exit ramp off a busy highway making you the captive audience of their scam.
And if you do offer them that Work for Food, they always give some lame excuse for why they can't actually work, and just want money instead.
Or you say "I'll drive over to McDonald's down there and buy yall some burgers and cokes."
And they say "Well thank you sir, but what we really need is just some money."
And they might even have some kids with them looking real sad. And it tugs on your heart. But then you see the track marks on their arms, all those needle marks. And then you see the Pentagram tattoo. Or maybe those kids that you think are theirs look more nervous or jittery than they do hungry. Or maybe those "hungry kids" look obese instead of thin.
All this may sound very cynical, but it comes from personal, observational experiences of myself and others I've known. You need to pay attention to your inner BS Detector because it's warning you.
Must be only done to people who have landlines for over 50 years like my mom did
I foiled the same scam here in NC as a Lyft Driver. I was hired to bring a 96-year-old gentleman with $6500 to pay the lawyer. Supposedly his grandson had been arrested for drunk driving. Went to pick him up and he said I was just bringing the money, and the lawyer called and confirmed this. I started up, stopped for gas, and the lawyer who booked the Lyft called immediately, wanting to know why I had stopped. Seemed strange, so 10 minutes up the road I stopped again. Phone rang with questions again. I made an excuse, started driving again and called the little old man to get his grandsons phone#. Called the number and he answered, he was driving to another state on vacation. I turned around, called the police and brought the little old man his money back. It is a scam aimed at older people so warn all of your older friends and relatives.
This was 2 months ago, not during covid, so it's still happening. Also they can use AI for the voice now!
@@SpiffyChickVintage
Go you!
That happened to my mother God rest her soul. Someone called her and told her that her grandson was in a Mexican jail for DWI. She called me freaking out saying we needed to Western Union some money to get him out of jail. She was so scared that she almost didn't believe that I would never allow her 11-year-old grandson to go to Mexico on his own, drive on his own or drink alcohol... 😂
This exact same thing happened to my family w my grandma being told I was in a Mexican jail. I wrote out the story above, but anyway want to tell you I’m sorry it happened to your family too and God rest your mom’s soul.
Everyday occurence here in Mexico. Real lazy s. o. bs here. Take care of yourself.
This happened to my mom when a guy called her claiming to be her nephew. She was in her late 70’s. She asked a lot of questions, and ended up not falling for it. These scammers should be prosecuted even when they aren’t successful.
My daughter and I had a conversation about this and decided that the whole family needed to have a special word that we would use if anything ever happens so that we would know it was really them. So our kids and grandkids would be the only ones to know the word. Great show!
GREAT IDEA!!!
Only thing, I am not sure where the circle ends/cuts people off. 🤔
I have new nephews (who married my niece), whom I haven't even met yet, lol! I guess that doesn't matter. Hmm .... something to think about! 🤔
That's a great idea!
We formulated such a word when our daughter was 4. It is still unforgettable thirty one years later.
Brad talking about his recliner 😂😂😂
Lol AGREE 😂
When my grandpa was in his late 80’s he got a call saying that my brother was in a bad car accident or something and he needed to wire money to someone. My grandpa was very upset but was not the kind of person who you could BS, so he called my dad right away and found out my brother was just fine. This was like 20 years ago!!! This scam has been going on a long time!!
@Bluegrl77 yeah and think about how much harder it would have been to get this type of info back then!
That made it easier for them to scam people! People assumed it was real bc of how it was not so easy to pull off!@@fredalackenspeil9371
I had this same type of phone call concerning my son having a car accident with a pregnant woman and my son had broken his nose so he didn’t sound like himself. They wanted bond $ and I was driving to round up the amount of $ I could! Then I thought to call my son’s wife to check on her. She answered and I asked her when the last time she had talked to Neil, and she told me 10 minutes ago while he was at work. So I hung up and called him while he was at work. I now knew it was a scam! Thank heavens cause I didn’t have the $ they wanted!!
These scams happen! Always check into them! I no longer get calls on my phone from numbers that are not in my phone! It’s called a “silenced call”!!!!!!
I love it cause my phone stopped ringing off the wall. I now hear silence and it’s awesome!!!!!
My mother, when she was still with us , but declining and easily confused, would get calls from people claiming to be her grandchildren telling her they needed money right away. Thankfully she never sent money, but she thought she was hearing her grandchildren's voices. My sister and I repeatedly assured her that our kids would not ask her for money, but would come to us.
The fact your 84 year old mother-in-law was called, is a huge red flag to me. In my opinion, your sister-in-law would have called her brother or you, Megyn Kelly for help, rather than stress out her elderly mom. Every family needs a secret word that only they know. Especially elderly or vulnerable family members.
My self and my kids all have a code
@@avrilallison8224 Same with us 👍🏻
Yes, but elderly and vulnerable family members are not likely to remember this is the problem. Staying 'close-in' and watchful is also needed.
@@MelissaDuffySacredBreath for sure. My father in law was scammed twice and now we check in and check accounts daily.
I have a code word with all my family members that we have used for 40 years!
Why did t anyone call the couple? This is insane.
My first question?
They prey totally on the urgency and emotionality of the (fake) situation, and the fact that the individual is older, slower, etc.
Because they are in jail.
These people are GOOD at imitating voices. Masterful, really. They somehow know who they're imitating and go from there.
The problem isn't that they trusted the scammers. They trusted the old lady who said she'd TALKED TO THE WOMAN IN JAIL. So they weren't almost scammed by the scammers. They would have been scammed by the old lady!
Rule 1: Never give anyone you don't know who calls you ANY information. Not your address. Not your age. Not your dog's name. Nothing.
If they say they're representing an entity you do business with, get their name and call back number, hang up and call the business to verify their identity. That puts a lot of scammers out of business right off the bat.
And don't take their word for the business's phone number
Megyn thank you so much for doing unique shows other than just repeating the same stories every other podcast does! So interesting🧐
My elderly dad got an almost identical phone call supposedly from my son. Dad asked his neighbor to drive him to Target for the gift cards that would get his grandson out of jail. 😮 Thank God, the neighbor insisted he call me first and at the mention of gift cards, I knew it was a scam. HOWEVER, Dad insists to this day that it was actually my son’s voice, and given the advent of AI, this is terrifying.
We’ve since learned the CRUCIAL importance of having a family code word chosen in advance so anyone in the family can instantly identify a scam!
Good tactic, codeword
Yes! Our family had passwords for our kids not to get in the car with anyone who didn’t give the password even if it was a family member or friend.
They’re all adults now safe and sound.
Scum taking advantage of elderly people that they have profiled on-line and realized that they are decent and loving family oriented people….
Disgusting!!!
That's very clever. What's the codeword?
family code word👍
This happened to my parents 8 years ago. So thankful for employees at Walmart who stopped them from wiring money.
I was in the return line at Walmart like a month or two ago and there was an older (maybe late 70’s) woman who was trying to wire money to her husband who was supposedly stranded at an airport in another country. The clerks kept asking her a whole bunch of questions because it sounded fishy to them. They told her to call her husband back to check it out further, she kept insisting that she already spoke to him and the Walmart staff ended up refusing to wire the money because they story was so sketchy. After she walked away the clerk said “I’m not going to be part of someone scamming some nice older lady!” I told her she did the right thing and thanked her for looking out for the woman! I just hope she figured out what was going on before she went somewhere else and wired the money!!
Same thing with my FIL! And thank goodness for the 17 year old checkout kid down the road in Florida, at Walgreens (or whatever chain, I forget), who asked him a bunch of questions and made him stop and think twice about it!
I’m glad to hear that younger people are recognizing the scam and looking out for these older people! This is outrageous! Some humans are so vile.
I spoke to a fellow passenger on a flight a few years ago. He was from India, but became a US citizen in the early 80’s. He owned several businesses and had homes in Aspen, Beverly Hills and Palm Springs. He received a call supposedly from the IRS saying he had underpaid his quarterly tax by $50,000. He was in such a hurry to get to an appointment that he had the money wired. It turned out that the money was wired to India. He said he was completely embarrassed that someone as business savvy as him could have been so easily defrauded.
Scammers and scum. It's so real and scarey!!!
Only good thing is there's no physical violence.
Scammers are the worst. I mean, get a job losers.
That is their pathetic job. These effers are greedy little cowards and they take advantage of so many people. It's sick. I'd love to meet some in person..... a ton are from the middle east and have these safe houses that they go to and you can find out who they are through a youtuber. He exposes these corrupt piles of crap.
I tell them that every time they call my business 😂 which is daily
@@sabrinaa4872 thank God for caller ID.
I’m a lawyer now retired but a few years ago a client who was 82 years of age was conned with 1.2 million dollars and left homeless. These people are disgusting and not funny. And should be in jail.
Megan thought she was clever that they caught onto the scam. But imagine if her mother did have the money they asked for and paid it. They were lucky that the boat guy woke up to the scam. My client unfortunately and there are many many lonely and vulnerable people who believe what they’re told. My client was told that she had won the European lottery some 28 million ueros but she had to pay the tax on it as she was not a citizen. The tax was guessed it the value of her house which she sold and transferred the money overseas. Unfortunately for her she did not consult me before she sold her house or when she was being conned on the internet. And here Megan had a chance to have these people arrested if she had notified the police. It was even without the payment of the money an attempt to obtain money be deception and even blackmail extortion. They would have gone to jail for at least 5 years. Instead there out there conning other lonely people. Not funny.
Similar thing happened to my Aunt. Twice! They never said the name. They call and say things like "we have your granddaughter here" and the victim volunteers "Abby? Jennifer?" And then the story begins. The victim gives the info. You gave the fraudsters way too much credit. If you ask your mother-in-law, I am sure she'll realize that they never did give out Jackie's name. In the heat of the moment, she gave them all of the info. The fraudsters simply dial land lines, which are easy to find. Th chances of someone older is greater with landlines now. Glad you didn't fall for the scam.
In Brazil, everyone has a story like this. My mom, who lives in Canada, got a call while visiting Brazil. The caller claimed they had kidnapped me, with “me” screaming for help in the background. Even though she knew I was in Canada, she panicked. Luckily, my cousin was there and told her to hang up. They kept calling back. My father-in-law had a similar experience; the scammer said they had my husband, but he wisely called me to check if my husband was with me. In Brazil, these scammers are often prisoners who bribe guards to use disposable phones.
Thanks for covering fraud week.
My 90 year old mom was also scammed… put “my son” on the phone supposedly in a car with a friend who had drugs in the car. Needed bail, mom send $5,000, was told not to tell anyone. Was called again for more money. Our local bank teller is the one who got suspicious
and then the family got involved and stopped it.
The first thing you need to do is call the people they say are in jail just to see if they pick up the phone.
EXACTLY!!! I was wondering the same thing...Why they didn't do that!!
True!
But you be surprised how logic and common sense and what is obvious can be easily cast away, unless you are tactically trained in situations, by fear, emotional manipulation, adrenaline, and the urgency of the situation.
I’m sure all of us at some point in our lives, even the best of us, have said, “What was I thinking or not thinking?”
I would call the jail as well
In my MIL’s case, her”grandson” pleaded with her not to call anyone because he was so ashamed and knew he could count on her. That of course fed that special grandma relationship where she wanted to be the independent woman and be his hero.
@@annebaugh2835 makes sense
I take care of elderly ppl and I've fielded so many calls from fraudulent degenerates trying to take advantage of my sweet lovely clients. It's infuriating!!!!! Great show, Megan!
Same here
My mother was scammed 100k in the UK. Fortunately we got the money back, but these people disgust me.
how did you get the money back? that's rare!
@@DR-cr3zo Most the high street banks in the UK have signed up to a code which prevents fraud, or at least tries to tackle it. So as they failed to block the wires, contact us, ask any questions about these transactions, and each transactions was just under X amount, the bank admitted they were liable. Also there were reasons my mum was vunrable and they failed to act. We were super lucky, but I'm still disappointed the bank didn't even flag the wires. This code, all the banks joined about 5 years ago, and have recently been updated. Had it happened 5+ years a go, I think things could have been different. My worry, is that action fraud seemed to have done nothing, as the scammers are still calling the house. If you need more details, you can search what this code thing is called, I actually forgot the name, but easy to find.
@@DR-cr3zo TH-cam deleted my response. So a few years back the main banks in the UK signed up for an agreement. If they fail to act on fraud, then they are liable. They didn't do anything, for example, block or ask any questions about the wire payments. So they agreed they should have acted, at least called us, so we got money back. I understand super lucky and greatful, but bank also should have done more. A few years ago I don't think we would have been so lucky.
@@darrenporter1850
YT deletes a very high percentage of comments these days. Why??! It is absolutely maddening.
What saved my Dad mostly was that the guy pretending to be my son. Called him Grandpa. My children called him Poppie. That's when my Dad started to have fun with them. I say try to waste any time I can
My elderly mom is often targeted by scammers. We have learned to say OK I'll get back to you. Then look the number up for ourselves!! Then we call the real number and report the scam.
😂 Omg this happened to my husband and I. Almost same story. Thank God no money exchange.....my son was at home with us sleeping in his room.
The con artist said that he is a “public defendant.” Hopefully, he will be soon.
There were so many give aways for a lawyer. But Megyn was a civil lawyer so she wouldn’t know. Bail / bond is highly unlikely for a first offender and especially that high. If it were a dui the cops would have already taken blood. And no blood test after the arrest would even be relevant. It metabolizes way faster than she would have had a lawyer. lol. The point is that these people are preying on older vulnerable and non-lawyer types. It works. Some people are so evil.
!!
This happened to a friend of mine. Her immediate family has a password that only they know. When she asked "her son" what the password was they hung up. Have a password that ONLY your family knows!!!
That’s a great idea.
@@sflasaint811 It is! Our family has one because of this and I tell everyone that will listen.
I call it a safe word….. lol. Hard sex…. I’m kinda kidding !! Good advice. Watch how easy kids get taken. Crazy horrible world 🌎 !! Let’s get back to the 50’s !!!
I recently saw a testimonial from a man on X/Twitter:
-He had recently moved and got a call from a sherrif's department saying that he didn't respond to a jury duty summons and would be arrested or have to pay a fine. The guy figures it got sent to his old address and missed it in the move. The person on the other line gives a sheriff's name and badge number, and the guy even Googles to see if it's legit and it matches exactly. So he's in full panic mode now.
It's only until the "sheriff" tells him to call a different phone number to wire the money that suspicion arises, so he calls the actual sheriff's department. They tell him it's not legit, but that he's the third person to call about such a thing THAT WEEK!
I get these scam calls every day! & hang up! Once I was in the Police Station to pick ip a lost/ found item when I got the call:I said “police Staion how can I help you!?🤣 they hung up!!😜🤡
These are scams coming from our own prisons, in the US. Inmates have cell phones and run this scam!
(1) Never give personal info to someone who calls YOU. If such info is provided, it should be YOU calling a phone number that is clearly legit. (2) Scams always have an excuse for immediate payment, so you know it is a scam when they are in a rush. (3) Many such scams can be revealed immediately by simply phoning the person alleged to be in trouble.
I had scammers calling my phone on December 23, 2008. I only remember the specific date because I was 8 months pregnant and had ZERO patience for the bullshit. They said "the police will be at your home to arrest you tomorrow " so i said, well then I guess I have to set a couple extra plates at the table for Christmas Eve dinner!
My mother fell victim to almost the exact same con. Only difference was that it was her grandson and it went on for days. They convinced her not to call other family members so that she wouldn’t get her grandson in trouble with his parents! They emptied one of her IRAs. One note: the initial caller from jail with the broken nose didn’t identify himself by name until my mom said, “Tyler, is that you?” He had simply started the call with, “Grandma, I’m in trouble.” She was unknowingly feeding him the information along the way.
Reality is most people wouldn't be able to recognize their grandchildren's voices from anyone else's.
Did anyone think to call Diane or Brad?
Yea , daaaaaaaa!!!!
This very thing almost happened to my older sister years ago. She got a call saying someone she knew was charged for drunk driving in Quebec, he was in jail...they didn't give a name so she decided it must be my ex who everyone in my family disliked immensely. She said his name, and ofcourse they said "yes, and he needed bail money!" Luckily she called me right away before promising anything. As it turned out he was just at my home picking up our kids. I told her it couldn't be him as he was just at my home! Plus I knew it couldn't be him as he didn't even drink. 🤔 Beware good people! These scams are everywhere!
Kiwi here. I have been to Cape Cod whale watching. On ya Steve!!!!!
1. Always reverse search a weird number
2. Scrub any screen shots or pictures sent to you for meta data on location and time of day
3. Especially look for weird out of country area or country codes
4. Always remember anyone looking for gift cards or bit coin is scamming you
Good advice. A lot of these scammers can now fix it so the number of a police department will show on Caller ID & give local numbers to call for "more information ". If one tries to do a direct call back, it goes to the scammer.
With all the techno, rerouting, set up, etc. That goes into this it seems they could get honest jobs doing productive things. (Sigh)
My father got caught in this scam. Someone called him claiming to be my son, saying he was in an accident and broke his nose and needed money to prevent him from going to jail. "My son" asked my dad not to call me. He sent the bastards $2800. Once they got that, they called my Dad for more. My Dad refused. The next day my Dad called me to see how my son was doing. I said fine, want to talk with him, he's sitting right here. It was at that point he realized he was scammed and out $2800.
This is a common scam.
my mom too😢makes me so sad they pretended to be my son and said please dont call mom 3 payments of 5000 dollars
Same with my MIL, they got her for over $100,000! When she finally got my husband and me involved and we told her it was a scam…. She could not, would not, believe it. It took days for her to understand it was a scam.
@@annebaugh2835omg!! This is so sad!!! 😞
Megyn just this week accompany called my cousin for the third time and got money out of her and they keep opening this account for her and I keep closing it. This is the third time I told him never to contact her again and they keep calling and getting her to sign up for this insurance on her car. Name of the company is service protection, direct buyers Beware! they pray on elderly women.
I get about 20 to 30 phone calls a day from scammers. I've called the local Police who basically told me to deal with it. So now I only accept calls from about 3 people I know. I'm wondering why I'm paying for a phone service I can't use and paying for a Government which allows these parasites to operate.
You State should have a No Call , Google it, Once You get on the No Call list they basically stop. Surprised the Police didnt know that ?.
Can you block them, or do they call your landline.?
@@marycull3607 I'm not really phone savvy, I made do with a flip phone until my lovely wife moved on to a better place. I believe you can filter out all unknown calls but A} I don't know how and B} It seems to defeat the point of having a phone.
Thank you MP for having the humility to share yall’s
Story. I shared it with my parents. With AI this may be even easier for them to duplicate our loved ones’ voices 😬
I was at work when an elderly veteran came in asking for help because he couldn’t understand the person on the phone to write call back #. Long story short. It was a scam call, he gave bank and all his personal info, I had to call his bank and tell them he was scammed. Bank told him he was lucky I was there. They shutdown his account and issued him new cards. He always passes by and says hello 😊
Why didn't you just call them? Hang up when this happens and call them. Moral of the story: trust no one.
Exactly! This happened to my parents, but the first thing my mother did was call her grandson - who was supposedly in jail in NY - to confirm that he was actually still nice and safe in his apartment in Texas. End of scam.
I too was called during Co-vid about my son being arrested..my mother-in-law said she got a call from someone saying my son needs money for bail but doesn't want his mom and dad to know. Thankfully, she called us and didn't keep secrets as he sat across from us.
What a story! Thanks for sharing!
Good God, what a hassle. Call the local bondsman and let them handle it. They would have found out it was bogus.
That's very smart.
Exact same thing happened to a friend of mine here in Canada. He forked out $10,000 (via Western Union) believing his son was in jail and needed bail on a DUI charge. Fake fake fake!
Same thing happened to my mother in law. She was called a told her grandson was in jail and needed bail. It was a scam
Mum shouldn't feel too bad. She went into Mom mode looking after her kid. Really admirable. Nothing to be ashamed about at all.
No one should mock you!! This was a great PSA. This happened to my elderly mother in law. Fortunately she asked the right questions, and they hung up. We were so proud of her. But this is a great reminder that they are still out there preying on innocent victims.
I too have been tried to be scammed by using my Retired Doctor as the scammer ! It didn’t work with me & the Dr was shocked she was being used!
I have a friend & her husband who are in their seventies and this happened to them. They lost $7k believing their grandson was in trouble. It's aweful that this fraud goes on.
That happened to my 88 year old Dad, almost same story. My Daddy couldn't see, and it was his grandson, Daddy had been a policeman..and knew it was a scam and he told them he was going to report them..They hung up
Steve has streetsmarts
Same type of scam happened to my mother when she was 90. She actually lost $5,000.00 cash before we figured out what was going on. She sent another $5.000.00 in a check, but fortunately we were able to get that stopped and the scammers showed up at the bank an hour after I spent a lot of time with her financial advisor trying to stop payment. If we had been another hour she would have lost another $5,000.00.
Thank you for sharing this about the scammers, we are always telling my 92-year-old father not to give any information away and Don’t ever try to handle any phone calls on your own. But one other instance I will share with you from my personal experience as a divorced female I’ve been on a few dating sites and I’ve learned so quickly that so many scammers are on there, and typically as soon as they introduced themselves instead of asking you what’s you like to do on weekends or what’s your favorite band etc. they immediately ask “Do you live alone”, “do you have children” “do you own your own house”, and now I’m so in tune with these fraudulent scam questions, so I block and report immediately.
Can you do a special on how to hold these fraudsters accountable legally. Would be nice if legal actions were taken to clean the mess.
This happened to my mom. They called her and told her I hit a pregnant woman and I was being prosecuted for DUI. She said I didn't drink and they told her I was using cough syrup. She was really traumatized by it. She called my number while she was on the phone with them. She asked if I was in jail and I told her I was at work and to hang up because she was being scammed. We caught them before she started getting money but she was still pretty shook up.
What's interesting is how the scammer had everyone's history and contact information to set up such an elaborate scheme. Being educated and sophisticated won't always be enough if you're not alert and paying attention. The scammers out there are are getting better and better.
Easy to get ALL of that information and more by putting the name in google search.
Especially when you're in panic mode! What can be scarier than thinking a loved one is in danger? Logic goes out the window.
What you should do in a case like this: make notes, say you call back and then call the real number of the relative / friend you have at home/on your mobile and see if they answer your call. In most cases they will and assure you that nothing happened and that they are totally fine. Then give the other phone number to the police and let them handle this.
This happened to my 84 year old mom too!! Story was a little different. It was my husband that was in the background of the call saying, “help me mom, I’m in jail.”. Thank god that my mom had enough pause to hang up on them and call me. My husband was mowing the lawn at home with me. These scammers are very convincing.
This happened to my parents a few years ago (including the broken nose story) with my nephew supposedly getting drunk and hitting a pedestrian. As soon as my mother told me what they were doing I knew it was a scam, however they had already wired $30K to the fraudsters. Fortunately they had wired the money so late in the day the bank had not yet wired the money and I was able to stop it in the early morning before they opened. It's called the grandparent scam and is very common.
Exactly same for us. We gave the receiving bank info to the FBI so they could meet the “recipient” at the bank on Monday morning! They did… questioned the woman who was there to get the money…. And that’s where it ended. We got that $30 k back for MIL, unfortunately she’d already Western Unioned over $100k to the fraudsters before she included us.
I work at a big bank and I see this kind of thing every day
Be very careful when people call pretending to be a bank. That happened to me and they even had my bank's caller ID. They had access to my account somehow and told me people were trying to use my debit card. They got a confirmation number from me and wiped out my checking account stealing $5K.
Exactly the same thing happened to me. My bank came up on my phone and I remembered the bank once telling me they never call customers that way, they usually call from a normal number. Yes a lot of people get scammed this way also. If its a large amount of money usually the bank blocks it here in the uk.
Why didn’t they call the family in peril to see if they answered?? A lot of panic could have been avoided.
Something similar happened to someone I know. One parent called their son while the other parent was on the phone with the scammer. It took less than 2 minutes to find out they were being SCAMMED.
Why am I not surprise that the cops are worthless and don't even bother to go after these POS! So much for "to protect and serve". And don't give me the "they have more serious crimes to investigate". Can you afford to lose tens of thousands of dollars? Especially if you're elderly? These crimes ARE serious crimes!
If you’re referring to the local law enforcement, there’s literally NOTHING that they can do.
The F.B.I. and secret service know exactly who the majority of these networks are.
Exact same thing happened to my husband’s grandfather!
-Supposedly his son (from NY) called and said drunk driving charge, broken nose, needs the bail
-it’s a Friday during Covid
-Crypto transfer request
Unfortunately, his grandfather didn’t tell anyone, and was able to wire the money. They then tried to get an additional 30k, and at that point the bank was the one who called my mother-in-law to ask what was going on. She calls her brother, and then they realize it’s all a scam.They cancelled that second wire, but the original amount is lost forever.
It’s so sad that they prey on the elderly. My husband and I enjoyed listening to this, we couldn’t get over how it was the exact same experience as our family.
First clue: government settling in crypto? I don’t think so!
THEY CHOOSE HER BECAUSE THEY KNEW THAT SHE WAS ELDERLY AND THOUGHT THAT THEY WOULD GET AWAY WITH IT. PERIOD
Thanks for posting! My 85 y.o. aunt was conned out of 50 k by a telemarketer over a several month period! She was a widow and lived alone! As per usual law enforcement said they could do nothing about! She was low income retiree on a fixed income!
These criminals are evil!
Everyone should have a family code..
When will we ever hear these miscreant thieves are caught & do real jail time?
hello I'm a Megan Kelly viewer who lives in England ,North Devon in town called Barnstaple awesome 😎
Similar thing happened to my parents. My mom got a call about 2 years ago regarding my daughter being in the hospital, yada, yada. Apparently they knew a lot of facts about her and their relationship, but something was off. Her first thought was “whatever she needs, whatever it takes”, but dad was even more suspicious so called the # they gave and figured out it was a scam. In the meantime our whole family was getting texts to see if my girl was ok, and she was, was just either at college or working. 2 months ago my 81 yr old dad gets a call from my “son” saying “Grandpa I had a dui, caused an accident, may have seriously hurt or killed someone and I’m at the country jail”, need $”, etc. Dad said it was similar to the previous call my mom got. First off, he knows my son’s voice and could tell it wasn’t him. and he started asking questions like “what county?”. In the meantime my son was already texting that he was fine. Dad has some fun for a few minutes until the caller caught on that he was caught, said some choice words and hung up.
I had a friend get nailed for $500. It took her weeks to tell us, her cliaestwat friends, because she was embarrassed she fell for it. How f-ing sad! She was worried about her independence being questioned by her kids. It's only going to get worse with AI CRAP. Thanks for talking about this!! Thanks especially Doug's mom.
So, did you just let this go without reporting the scammer and CATCHING THE BSTRDS ???????
She said the police weren't interested
With the internet, it's almost impossible to track them down.
We called the FBI and gave them the location of the bank where the fraudsters, who stole more than $100,000 from my MIL, would be to pick up even more wired money. FBI stopped her, interviewed her… and subsequently did nothing…. NOTHING!
Wow!!!! Unbelievable story - certainly gave me a heads up - Thanks Megyn, please do more of these, it’s really a public service!
How absolutely insane all of this is! These scams keep getting worse and worse
I thought the “lawyer” said he was a public “defendant”.
Yeh, she should've caught that one.
@@iamgabriel5823 !!
My mother had the same scam done to her. It was a supposed call from a grandson she hadn't spoken to for awhile. She was scammed out of over $4K. She went once and sent money and they said she needed to send more. When she went back to send more money, the person at the counter questioned her and determined she had been scammed. It was awful and caused us great concern about her judgment. Thankfully she was ok and nothing further happened.
Annnddd, my mom does not own a computer or a smart phone. She's not on any social media at all. Crazy!
The bank tellers tried to stop my MIL too… but she dressed then down so badly and told them it was her money and she would do as she pleased that they went ahead with the $30,000 transfer. Fortunately it was a Friday afternoon and we got it stopped before it reached the other end on Monday! (Sadly that happened AFTER she spent a month transferring over $100,000 through small Western Union transfers.). So infuriating!
@@annebaugh2835 😮
Happened to my mom. Had a 'grandson' call saying he was in jail and scared. They called early waking my mom up, so she wasn't fully comprehending what was going on. Finally, she figured out it was a scam. She told her 'grandson' to call his mom and hung up. 😅
Same thing happened to my wife, they even spoofed the number so on her phone it shows "Honey" as me calling her. They said is this your husband's phone, cause he's in jail. She started crying. Luckily she called my cousin and he said its a scam, and to have her call me again. I was at home. But another family member a naturalized U.S. citizen lost $3,000 and almost lost another $1,000 because she got a call that FBI is coming over, as her papers are not in order. They asked her, have you traveled internationally and most people will say yes and then they tell you your papers are messed up. She barely had any savings and they drained $3,000 and somehow she called the same cousin again and he stopped the next $1,000 through Western Union.
I guess all the fraudsters now know how to pronounce Barnstable.
This happened to my family too. Luckily my Dad called my brother right away. He was the one supposedly in trouble.
Years ago, I had a job in Merced, Calif. I used to frequently shop at the Savemart there. Often this middle-aged Hispanic lady would approach me with a pained look on her face asking for a few dollars so she could feed her children. Sensing a conjob I always refused. Then I moved out of town for another job. Seven years later I moved back to Merced for another job. Soon I found myself shopping again at the same Savemart grocery store. As soon as I parked and exited my car the SAME Hispanic lady, looking much older now, came strolling up to me with the same pained expression and same story about her hungry children. I said, "Holy shitta, are you still doing this?!" She quickly disappeared. She probably had a pretty lucrative scam going on for all these years.
So funny my grandma says the exact same thing when she gets those calls! Is your mother proud of what you’re doing?
My mother got call about her grandson, my son. Said he was in jail. She thought it sounded like him but called us and we verified he was in class.
My grandmother (from my father’s side) got a call similar to that, saying my dad had some problems approximately 15 years ago. She was starting to have problems with her memory, but she called my father immediately. He was furious and when they called back the only thing they received was swearing from him. Unfortunately, this was the only repercussion they had from trying to scam my grandmother. The police couldn’t do anything. And we are in Bulgaria, they could not really ask for much from ordinary people.
I don’t know how many scammers have called wanting me to get on my computer or wanting my bank to warn them of a fraud.
And emotion you love them that is what these SOBs do! Thank you for showcasing these scams!!!!
Your husband is so handsome. You make a beautiful couple!❤
A little ditty ‘bout Brad and Diane 🤣Now it’s stuck in my head! Loved fraud week!!
I just think the amount of stealing from defenseless elderly people is so high it boggles the mind!! No morals whatsoever!!
Megyn, my 86 year old aunt and uncle were scammed in the same manner. The scammers asked if they wanted to pay by check or credit card. My aunt told them no that should would use cash. She actually let them come to her house to get $30 K. I was so heartbroken for them. It can happen to anyone.
Dont fuck with Steve.